Books
When the Hibiscus Falls (2023)
when the hibiscus falls
Seventeen stories traverse borderlines, mythic and real, in the lives of Filipino and Filipino American women and their ancestors.
Moving from small Philippine villages of the past to the hurricane-beaten coast of near-future Florida, When the Hibiscus Falls examines the triumphs and sorrows that connect generations of women. Daughters, sisters, mothers, aunties, cousins, and lolas commune with their ancestors and their descendants, mourning what is lost when an older generation dies, celebrating what is gained when we safeguard their legacy for those who come after us. Featuring figures familiar from M. Evelina Galang’s other acclaimed and richly imagined novels and stories, When the Hibiscus Falls dwells within the complexity of family, community, and Filipino American identity. Each story is an offering, a bloom that unfurls its petals and holds space in the sun.
Coffee House Press
Read reviews and Pre-order on Coffee Press website
PrAise For
When the Hibiscus Falls
“A collection of rare and fierce beauty examining generational and contemporary diasporic life. The characters embody history, myth, and homeland—lost and imagined—and will break your heart.”
“The descriptions in M. Evelina Galang’s WHEN THE HIBISCUS FALLS never fail. Whether rendering the slightest touch between hands or the raw energy of a hurricane, Galang’s language is in high form. I do not speak Tagalog, but the rhythm of the language is so present here that I believe now and again while reading that I do. These are wonderful stories of families and place and politics.”
“M. Evelina Galang’s stories are pioneering, lyrical, and full of life. She is interested in the diaphanous curtains among past, present, and future, and narrates with great vocal daring. This is a wonderful and important collection.”
“M. Evelina Galang’s stories take us on poignant diasporic journeys, not just in and out of different countries, but through generations ... because leaving home and coming home happen over and over, for good and bad, long after the plane has landed or the boat has docked. One journey can ripple through family for eternity. These stories are brave and real and full of heart.”
“Beautiful and often heartbreaking, the stories take us on the gentle and rhythmic wind of Galang’s language into villages and cities in the Philippines, into forests and urban spaces, into cities like Chicago and Miami, and suburban communities we only think we know. A stunning collection.”
“M. Evelina Galang dances from ancestral myth to imaginary futures with a sure-footed grace, and her luminous characters—whether in Manila or Miami, the Midwest or beyond—urge us all to rediscover where we come from and what matters in the end.”
“Long esteemed as a writers’ writer, M. Evelina Galang recognizes the unity between this world and the next, grounding her vision in the intimate language of Filipino family and community. Her radical social and aesthetic commitments are reflected in the authority of her characters’ perspectives, centering a blended reality: here/there, home/history, dreams of connection and of liberation.”
“M. Evelina Galang creates here a community, a world, and a world literature. Read and be amazed.”
“The stories remind me of the adamantine characteristics of Kapwa and other Filipino indigenous values and practices. Kapwa—this Filipino value of ‘the self is in the other’—in these stories assures me that we can always depend on the strength and solidity of the ground and roots that gave birth to the Filipina sense of Being.”
Reviews
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. These stories are written with passionate prose, addressing sensitive topics such as suicide, diaspora and xenophobia. Because her Filipino heritage is important to her, Ms. Galang ensures that it is interwoven throughout the book. The driving force behind the stories, however, are the women’s resolution and devotion to family.
Kirkus
”A portrait of how complicated it is to face the history you inherit.”
Publishers Weekly
(Starred Review) ”What makes these stories so powerful and poignant are the inner lives of the characters, a complex blend of nostalgia, desire for assimilation, and defiance. This is a winner.”
The Halo Halo Review
”Psychic strength was clearly required to write these stories revolving around generations of Filipino women in the U.S. and the Philippines, and the roles they play: daughters, sisters, mothers, aunties, cousins, lolas, and friends.”
West Trade Review
”The stories speak to one another as a record of generations of women and their inherent strength.”
Electric Literature
”Galang gives the Filipina/Filipina American reader the greatest gift of all: the chance to see oneself in a text not because her likeness has been stripped of all complexity, but because her complexity has been revered—held up to the light and turned slowly, with each shifting hue captured with delicate, lucid prose.”