Johnny Manalo-a Filipino who has lived for years in the United States, sometimes illegally-returns home for a brief visit during the last years of the Marcos dictatorship. From his landing on the Manila tarmac where opposition leader Benigno Aquino was gunned down, through jetlagged reunions with family and friends, Johnny finds himself an alien in his own country, unable to grasp the physical, moral, and spiritual corruption that--from Marcos and his wife "Madame" on down--have consumed the nation's soul. If Ty-Casper's earlier, brilliant novel Awaiting Trespass emphasizes contemplation, redemption and hope, Wings of Stone gives a nightmare picture of the mindless violence of martial law and the possible fire-storm of civil war. Sadly, since the Marcos regime was toppled in 1986, the triumph of democracy has faded, and the situation in the Philippines today remains as Ty-Casper so powerfully describes it here.
