From the back cover:
With this collection of stories, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo departs from the "tale" mode of Tales for a Rainy Night (1993) and Where Only the Moon Rages (1994), and returns to the realistic short story, the mode of her earlier collection, Ballad of a Lost Season (1987). But the simple narrative style and the nostalgic tone of these new stories about the young girl, Patriciang Payatot are reminiscient of the tales as well as of her travel essays, a genre in which she pioneered, and which some critics regard as her best work.
Aside from writing three short story collections and six collections of personal essays and travel narratives, Hidalgo has written a novel, Recuerdo (1996) and two volumes of literary criticism. Many of these books have won awards, like the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize and the Manila Critics' Circle National Book Award.
The author is married to Antonio A. Hidalgo and has three daughters. She holds a Ph. D. in Comparative Literature, teaches at the University of the Philippines, and is the Director of the UP Creative Writing Center.
Contents:
The Magic Glasses
The Notebook
The Mangkukulam
Patriciang Payatot
The Afternoon of the Horses
Little Miss Sunshine
Purita
"Sweets for the Sweet"
Moondoggie
Beautiful Beth
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
The Woman in the Apple-green Dress
Afterthoughts
