‘The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos’ reprinted and e-published

This is a story from the past… or so I thought. But just a few months ago a group of young book readers got in touch with me to ask if they could interview me. I was expecting it would be about some news of the day, (like the Smartmatic-PCOS election or Constitutional Reform) that I had commented on in my columns in Philippine STAR.

No, they said it is about The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos, the book that became a cause célèbre in 1972 when Marcos declared martial law. I subsequently wrote The Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos after the 1986 revolution. What?!? Is that still alive?

Strange, how it is that a book has a life of its own quite apart from its author. But these young men and women are of a new generation and they were reacting to the book just as the young men and women of those perilous times in the ’70s reacted to the book. That is how this new generation of readers coaxed me to reprint it and have it published as an e-book.

They said they were scouring for it in second hand bookstores in Azcarraga and Avenida Rizal and realized that there was just no more copies available.

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The caller, Orly Agawin is one of the founders of a Book of the Month Club and they read contemporary books like Dash and Lily‘s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan.

During the interview he had tattered copies of the Imelda books. “I got them second-hand from an online bookstore, not knowing who their previous owners were. I have searched all bookstores in Manila for brand new copies. When I got back to Manila, I started inquiring on Carmen Navarro Pedrosa. Is she in the Philippines? Or is she even in Manila? I even asked people if she is still with us (if you get my drift). I wondered if she has an email address where I can reach out to her and tell her how her book moved me to appreciate the democracy that our fathers and mothers fought for. As a matter of fact, I would even settle for snail mail.

The search for her became more of a need than a wish when I gave the Rise and Fall as suggested reading for the book club’s July discussion. After all, in our day and age of Facebook and Twitter, the web of social interconnections will help me find my way to find the Filipino author who gave me a new love for biographies.

After days and hours of searching Google and Facebook, I came across Veronica Pedrosa, one of her daughters who were with her during her exile, now (like her mother) a correspondent for Al Jazeera. On July 10, I messaged her in FB, and immediately got a reply from her the elder Pedrosa’s email address. “My mom will be thrilled!” she wrote.

I immediately drafted an email to Carmen. Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor. I was slowly being led to her. Stating my objectives, I asked her if I could see her for an interview, document the event, and share them with my fellow book club members. In just three hours, I got a reply.

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“Bookmark, the biography’s official publisher in the ’70s and ’80s already has stopped printing any of the books. What is left are the old original copies buried in Catholic university archives. Two (I heard) were in UST, and three in Ateneo de Manila,” he said.

He told me that they had chosen the Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos published in 1987 by St. Martin’s in New York and Weidenfeld and Nicolson in London as their selection for the book club.

Their enthusiasm persuaded me to reprint the Untold Story of Imelda Marcos, It will be launched in a few days. (It will be announced in Facebook).

The Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos is available now in Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Apple iTunes and Flipreads thanks to Orly who introduced me to Honey de Peralta of Flipside Publishing an e-book publishing company that distributes Harry Potter locally.

Orly has since reviewed the Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos in Amazon.

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I have excerpted parts of the review:

“The Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos” was published in 1987, the year after the EDSA Revolution. After being forced to exile because of a previous unauthorized biography in The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos in 1969, Carmen and her family moved back to Manila to continue their lives and rebuild relationships with friends and relatives.

Like the forbidden book that she published 18 years ago, the 2nd book sold like hotcakes in 1987. It was published in New York and translated to Japanese, Portuguese, and Pilipino (CNP: and now I am told also in Korean).

The story of Imelda continued until her flight to Hawaii in the final pages of Pedrosa’s sequel. It was a relevant piece of literature understood by most Filipino English readers in the late ’80s.

This unputdownable book gripped me like cold steel for its impeccable narrative, dramatic flair and interesting subject. It was like reading a tele-serye in Primetime Bida, or Dramarama sa Hapon. Imelda Marcos’ story starts from a pivotal point when her family once belonged to the category of “poor relations” in the rich Romualdez clan. It continues to her unlikely adventures in Manila, her days of living in the garage and ultimately marrying Ferdinand Marcos and occupying the second highest position as First Lady of the land.

Exactly a year after I bought it, I am thrilled to be making this review in Amazon, and encouraging fellow Filipinos and people from different parts of the world to see what Pedrosa has to offer. Here is a well-written narrative of the story of a woman who was destined to succeed at the expense of a nation, and meet tragedy overnight. An amazing read!” Thank you, Orly.