The Last Time I Saw Mother
Arlene J. Chai
Fawcett
Called back home from Australia to the Philippines by an enigmatic letter from her mother, Caridad begins an emotional journey of self-discovery. The truth emerges in first person accounts by the women involved--Caridad, her mother Thelma, her aunt Emma, and her cousin, Ligaya--and presents a tale of personal tragedy and social devastation during the wartime Japanese occupation, and then during the post-war invasion of American troops billeted at the huge naval bases, which brought the seediest of western culture to the people of Manila.