A love etched in time

MANILA, Philippines - What makes a person love a book? Some get attracted to its story, no matter who the author is, while others are drawn to a particular author and read their books no matter what their books are about. Before Ever After, a book written by a Filipina author and published by an American publishing house, is one book I love because of the two — the author and the story.

The author

Ms. Samantha Sotto, the author, left the corporate world to be a full-time mom. She considers herself a “school bus driver” because she  brings her kids to school every day. Before Ever After was born in a coffee shop while waiting for her son’s classes to end and was bought and published by Random House, after one school year of writing, months of rejection and a number of revisions. Sotto is the first Filipina to be represented by the American publishing company.

Sotto is an inspiration to budding writers. Not only is she a Filipino, she is one who has the guts and the talent to penetrate the international reading market. With creativity and persistence, her dream was fulfilled. We, Filipinos, are definitely proud of her achievement.

In one of her interviews, Sotto said that it is her hope that “her story will inspire others to pursue their own dreams.”

The story

Before Ever After is, foremost, a love story. But it’s not the cheesy or erotic kind since it is a potpourri of romance, selfless love, adventure, history, mystery, suspense and drama that makes me giggle like a teenager, excited (could not wait to read what’s going to happen next), laugh (Max’s humor is cute), melancholic (many times my eyes became wet), sympathetic (could not imagine what I would do if I were in their shoes), travel back in time (I felt like being transported into a historical world) and reflective (how difficult it is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time).  

Reading this book is a milestone in my reading journey because I devoured it in five days, unlike other books that take me months.

Love

Basically, it is the love story of an unlikely couple — Max, a tourist guide and Shelley, an American living in London. Their affair blossoms during a tour of nine European cities — not the famous tourist spots but those filled with stories and etched in history. It takes place against a backdrop of exciting events and is woven with mystery and suspense. It is supposed to end with the death of Max, but that’s only half of the story. Max’s demise is only the beginning.

The ultimate test is Shelley’s willingness to take the risk for love, just to be with her loved one forever. So ideal. So romantic. This is quite unrealistic in today’s world where couples separate after five or seven years of marriage due to various reasons, usually because of infidelity and betrayal. Ideal and romantic as it may seem, I’m sure many would be in that category even in this age of divorce, annulment and separation.

Another highlight is the other type of love, the universal love of family, where a father desires to protect his children and loved ones. So Filipino. It is this “sense of family, protectiveness...” that haunts another character, Julien, during the Paris Commune. I could not help but shed tears when he finds his dear daughter, Isabelle, buried in mud because he faild her when she needed him most.

Very touching, too, is one’s love for her neighbor (God’s second commandment), immortalized in Isabelle sacrificing her own life so that a child, a Parisian just like her but one she did not even know, could live. So heroic. So Filipino –– it’s something we witness in times of calamity when unknown Filipino heroes die so that others may live.

Adventure and history

Who does not want an adventure, what more a travel adventure in Europe? The story transports the reader to France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, but not to the usual places of interest but traverses off the beaten path and into the annals of history, places significant and memorable to Max –– this is why he names the tour package “The Slight Detour.”

The adventure starts in Paris where Max warns his group, “If you don’t think you can remember where we started from, you can purchase a baguette and leave a trail of bread crumbs.”

Gay Paris is so romantic and exciting but Sotto presents a serious side of it through the Paris Commune, which left me wondering how such a beautiful place could have a heartbreaking, bloody history. But it is comforting to know that this is where Max and Shelly’s heartwarming love affair begins.

The succeeding chapters will bring the reader to Versailles and Montmartre in France, Emmental Valley in Switzerland, the Scottish Monastery in Austria, Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Venice, Rome, the Vatican and Ercolano in Italy with much more adrenalin-pumping events creating friendships and conflicts between the lovers and the other members of the tour group.

Another beautiful place showcased in the book is our very own Boracay, described by Shelley as a place where God “hoarded beauty like a secret stash of chocolate. Boracay was His kitchen drawer.” What happens here is truly heart-stopping.

Mystery

Each chapter in this jewel of a book will leave one with more questions, taking the reader deeper into the mysterious unfolding of events, what with Max as a person shrouded in mystery itself.

Max’s character is an intricacy of personalities, making Shelley wonder who actually is the man that she married. Shelley describes him initially as “like a golden full-fat mozzarella stick fried in butter. Irresistible, unapologetic and off-limits.” But the reader will truly fall in love with him, a man who values love, family, friendship, loyalty and valor. His romantic streak pens these lines, “I want forever with you, Shelley. I want your days to be as long and endless as mine. I want to hear your voice next to me on the nights I fear to dream. I want you to choose me, to choose us, everyday, and always.” Any girl would swoon to read or hear this from the man she loves.

Every girl wants a love story etched in time, as Max and Shelley’s is. I believe mine is, too.

Ma. Cristina Padilla-Sendin, married with three children, is a BS Psychology graduate of Saint Louis University, Baguio City, with a Master of Management major in Public Management degree from the UP Extension in Pampanga.  She was a guidance counselor before joining the government as an HR and IT practitioner. She retired from government service (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) in 2010 and formed a human resource company, Ad Maioram Corporation (www.amchr.com).