Gina Apostol

Philippines

About

Gina Apostol is a Filipino-born novelist known for her inventive fiction exploring Philippine history, colonialism, political power, and the complexities of national identity. Born in Manila, she grew up in Tacloban, Leyte, before moving to the United States, where she lives in New York City and western Massachusetts. Her first two novels, Bibliolepsy (1997) and The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata (2009), both received the Philippine National Book Award. Her third novel, Gun Dealers’ Daughter (2012 in the United States), won the PEN/Open Book Award in 2013 and was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize. Her later novel Insurrecto (2018), which examines the historical relationship between the Philippines and the United States, was named one of the year’s best books by Publishers Weekly. Apostol received the prestigious Rome Prize in Literature in 2023.

Books on TheBookRoads

All genres Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction

All themes History

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Gun Dealers’ Daughter

Gun Dealers’ Daughter

A privileged young woman. A revolutionary lover. A past she cannot fully remember. Growing up in a wealthy family in the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos’s authoritarian rule, Soledad “Sol” Soliman has lived a sheltered life, far removed from her country’s poverty and political turmoil. But when she enters university in Manila, she falls in with radical student activists and becomes involved in a revolutionary movement. Torn between romantic desire and political conviction, Sol is drawn into a conspiracy with devastating consequences. Years later, living far from home, she attempts to reconstruct her fractured memories and confront the act that continues to haunt her. Blending psychological suspense with political history, Gina Apostol’s award-winning novel explores privilege, rebellion, and the uneasy relationship between personal memory and national history.

2013 Philippines

Country

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