Irma was only nine years old when she was sent from a small fishing village of an obscure island in the Philippines to cosmopolitan Manila. Before that she had already experienced extreme deprivation; a family ravaged by alcoholism, poverty, and the tsunami that destroyed her village that would change her life. The one thing that saved her was a passion for knowledge. It was this passion that would guide her through the years of child abuse from her relatives, imprisonment and torture from military camps and indoctrination from the Communist guerrillas. Mary on the other hand died because of her passion to help the poor; to correct the wrong, and to voice her grievances against a corrupt and repressive government. Follow the journey of two extraordinary young women as they struggle to survive personal challenges and political turmoil with life threatening danger around every corner. Filled with tensions, contradictions, glory, terror, and an exploration of all the worst and best qualities of the human condition, this book will tug you on all your emotions from love to fear, sadness and joy. Join Irma and Mary on their journey. Once you start reading the first sentence. It will be difficult to put this book down