Winner of the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award

This collection of sixteen stories brings the work of a distinguished Filipino writer to an American audience. Scent of Apples contains work from the 1940s to the 1970s. Although many of Santos's writings have been published in the Philippines, Scent of Apples is his only book published in the United States.

Replaces ISBN 9780295956954

This timely new edition... resurrects the work of this largely forgotten master storyteller for another generation of readers. There is much pleasure and insight to be found in this rich and satisfying collection. -- From the foreword by Jessica Hagedorn

About the Author

Bienvenido N. Santos (1911-1996) first came to the United States in 1941 as a government pensionado (scholar) at the University of Illinois, Columbia University, and Harvard University. During World War II he served the Philippine government from exile in Washington, DC, before returning to the Philippines in 1946. He came back to the United States in 1958 and attended the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop. In 1965 he received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature from the Philippine government.

Reviews

"Santos writes simply and skillfully of his countrymen who leave home for America, of the pain of separation, loneliness, longing, yesterday's hopes and tomorrow's dreams. His portraits of these gentle, courageous exiles are moving as he shows how each one struggles to make his way in the new land, trying to find a life far from his roots while sustained by the dream of a return home. . . . Santos gets to the heart of what it is like to be uprooted, alone, alien."

-- Publishers Weekly

"Mr. Santos is a master at giving the reader a sense of people speaking in many languages and dialects."

-- Maxine Hong Kingston, New York Times Book Review

"Santos is a writer of deceptive simplicity, one whose graceful storytelling conceals considerable political commitment. . . . His stories capture with warmth and deep humanity the pain of exile and the cost of progress."

-- Washington Post

"The whole collection is affecting-a small, unexpected gift from a writer with a welcome new voice."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"Mr. Santos's best pieces are exquisitely crafted works which examine with irony, humor, and humanity the plight of Filipinos in America."

-- Studies in Short Fiction



Book Information
ISBN 9780295995113
Author Bienvenido N. Santos
Format Paperback
Page Count 220
Imprint University of Washington Press
Publisher University of Washington Press
Weight(grams) 272g