Guimaras, setting of Jose Sevilla Ho's first novel

Jose Sevilla Ho or JoeHo, as his friends call him set his first novel in Iloilo and Guimaras, where he grew up. The book was picked book of the month by Australian Literary Management in April 2005. For some reason, it is not yet available in Philippine bookstores.

Jose Sevilla Ho

Roses From San Gabriel is a family saga across four generations, set in the Philippines before and after World War II. It tells the story of two brothers, Jorge and Miguel, who grow up in an empty, loveless house with their father. Their mother, the mysterious Rosanna, died not long after Jorge was born, leaving Miguel with faded memories of a beautiful woman who is no longer there.As Miguel grows he stifles in the small village. He sets out to live the life of an adventurer, leaving Jorge at home with his remote father and the servant woman, Adia. Through her tantalizing tales Jorge forms a vivid picture of the mother he never knew, and learns of the fading city where he and his brother were born, a former Spanish port town in the Pacific, where Vasco da Gama’s great flagship the San Gabriel strayed long ago on its voyage to India, met disaster and sank.Roses From San Gabriel takes on the form of a beautifully inlaid mirror. Obsessed by the circumstances of his mother’s death, Jorge strives to understand the past. His search takes him to the capital, where he learns of his family’s struggles through war and political change. There he also discovers that Adia’s enchanting tales have concealed her own role in the family’s tragedy.Jose Sevilla Ho is a truly remarkable storyteller. He was born in the Philippines in 1961. In 1986 he left for Russia to study Film Directing at the Moscow Film Institute and spent seven years there. He has since worked and lived in Britain, the Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong and currently lives in China. He is married to a British journalist.