IN HIS HOMILY FOR CHRISTMAS, THE PREACHer said that Jose Rizal wanted to go to Europe in order to educate himself. He was compelled by his desire to learn and become more useful to his people.
We all have our own defining moments. There are decisions in life that can either make or break us, and they change our lives forever.
Candy Quimpo Gourlay, who moved to the UK in 1989 when she married Richard Gourlay, writes children’s stories with European characters and backgrounds. Her defining moment was when she began writing “Tall Story.”
Candy used the Bernardo Carpio legend and other tales from Filipino folklore as a starting point to tell the story of a teenage boy, Bernardo, who grows to be eight feet tall. After years of hurdling immigration problems, Bernardo finally meets his English half-sister, Amandolina.
Candy said she couldn’t believe her luck. She sold “Tall Story” to David Fickling Books (DFB), an imprint of Random House. It will be published by DFB in the UK and Ramon Sunico’s Cacho Publishing House in Manila in June.
Bella Pearson, the editorial director of DFB, enthused, “It isn’t often that I’m in fits of laughter one minute, and in tears the next. ‘Tall Story’ is one of the warmest, funniest, most moving books I’ve read in a long time—and Candy Gourlay is a rare voice in children’s fiction.”
For her part, deciding to run across 16 states in the US—covering 5,000 kms—in 169 days was journalist Joy Roxas’ defining moment. She calls her amazing journey “Takbong Pangarap.”
Four children
My defining moment came when I quit my job at a bank and decided to study photography in the US—and, later, adopted four children.
Chet Espino’s defining moment was when he “loved his (sick) wife, Margie Quimpo-Espino, back to life.” Get a copy of Chet’s book, “88 Days in India—A Pilgrimage of Faith, Hope and Love.” It will bring tears to your eyes.
Happy New Year!
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