Everlasting Nora

September 17, 2018
Nora would be in the sixth grade if she hadn’t had to leave school a year before, after a fire destroyed her home and killed her father. Now living in her father’s mausoleum, in North Cemetery, the largest graveyard in Manila, Nora makes and sells daisy garlands to passersby and helps her mother do others’ laundry to provide food and necessities. After her mother disappears one night, Nora finds herself utterly alone, unwilling to call upon family or friends because of embarrassment and previous family circumstances. She soon realizes how dire her mother’s gambling problem has become and confronts a loan shark’s greedy lackey to find her. Unexpected help from neighbors and friends, like 13-year-old Jojo and his grandmother, Lola Mercy, portray a caring community within the shantytown and beyond. Debut author Cruz doesn’t shy away from Nora’s reality—her unreliable, grieving mother, the family’s extreme poverty, the violence of the gambling world—but she also weaves a story of hope in darkness and creates a courageous, resilient heroine to root for. Cruz’s rich descriptions of Filipino culture, most notably the food, intensify the sense of place and proffer bright spots in Nora’s difficult situation. Ages 8–12. Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch Literary Services.

Amielynn Abellera exuberantly narrates the story of 12-year-old Nora, who lives in a most unlikely place--a vast shantytown perched atop graves in Manila's North Cemetery. Nora and her mother live hand-to-mouth, taking in laundry and selling daisy chains. When her mother goes missing, Nora frantically searches for her, and in the process, she discovers more friends and family than she could have imagined. Abellera adds zest to the story, peppering it with luscious descriptions of Filipino delicacies that contrast sharply with the gritty and desperate reality of cemetery life. Abellera's male voices are somewhat forced, but listeners will be utterly seduced by her depiction of tender and tenacious Nora, who reminds us that hope can be found amid even the most wretched conditions. S.A.H. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine