Some legacies are best left buried…

Villa Sepulveda is a fabled relic of the Philippines’ past: a Spanish colonial house, its crumbling stonework filled with centuries-old heirlooms, nestled in a remote coconut plantation. When their patriarch mysteriously dies, his far-flung family returns to their ancestral home. Filipino-American student Adrian Sepulveda invites his college friend Sophie, a transracial adopted daughter who knows little about her own Filipino heritage, to the funeral of a man who was intertwined with the history of the country itself.

Sophie soon learns that there is more to the Sepulvedas than a great tradition of political and business success. Adrian’s relatives clash amid grief, confusion, and questions about the family curse that their matriarch refuses to answer. When a landslide traps them all in the mansion, secrets come to light, revealing sins both deeply personal and unimaginably public.

Sophie combs through fact, legend and fiction and finds herself at the centre of a reckoning. Did a mythical demon really kill Adrian’s grandfather? How much of a blame do the Sepulvedas have for the country’s history of oppression? When a series of bad omens haunt the villa, Sophie must decide who she can trust – and who to flee – before the family’s true legacy takes revenge…

While it may seem like a departure from the science fiction thrillers I have written before, at its core The once beloved villa is a natural continuation of my previous work. It is a contemporary story about identity, self-discovery and family, but is also firmly anchored in a larger social and historical context.

Inspiration came as I watched in horror as fascism continued to rise around the world, including in my homeland, where a strongman, the son of a former dictator, had recently become president. I kept thinking about the cyclical nature of history, and the seemingly inescapable burden of the past, and about legacies, both familial and national. I wrestled with questions like: What kind of family raises such monsters? What kind of culture worships these monsters?

Gothic literature has always been one of my favorite genres, and I knew it was the ideal medium to explore these conflicts. The Villa, Once Beloved is about literal and figurative corruption, concrete and metaphorical horrors, on both a universal and deeply personal level. This is also my most personal novel to date, and I’m thrilled to continue working with Erewhon to bring this story to life.

I’ve studied history all my life and have always felt connected to the colonial and post-colonial history of developing countries. I’m also a huge fan of the Gothic as a narrative form and have always felt that it’s most effective when you use its classic tropes – like the old family secrets, the naive trapped in a mysterious house, the supernatural phenomena that may only be imagined – to expose real historical injustices lurking behind the facade of propriety and power. So when Victor pitched me the idea of ​​a Gothic novel that delved into the deepest secrets of a dysfunctional diaspora family as well as the dark history of a nation trying to emerge from centuries of colonial rule – even though it would be different to anything we’d worked on together before – I knew I wouldn’t believe it. The once beloved villa would be something special. The book exceeded all my expectations and will delight (and challenge!) readers of gothic novels, family sagas, and magical realism alike. I can’t wait to share this story with the world!