Some of the books used for research
Research & Extras
Though I used many different resources in my research for In the Light of the Sun, including the first-hand accounts of my mother, aunts, and godmother, several books were particularly helpful.
For understanding the war in the Philippines, these books were invaluable: The Pacific War: 1941-1945 by John Costello, The Philippines Under Japan: Occupation Policy and Reaction by Setsuho Ikehata and Ricardo Trota Jose, Manila: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Purita Echevarria de Gonzalez, Boy Guerrilla by Rudy deLara, My Faraway Home by Mary McKay Maynard, as well as the fascinating memoirs of two courageous, intrepid female journalists, American Doris Macauley’s Bread and Rice and Filipina-Irish American guerrilla leader, Yay Panlilio’s The Crucible: An Autobiography by Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerrilla. Three Year Picnic by Evelyn Whitfield and Pocket Stones: A Child’s Story of WWII in the Philippines by Barbara Ann Gamboa Lewis were also helpful.
Among the resources used to aid in my research of Italy are the books: Mussolini’s Italy by R.J.B. Bosworth, The Pursuit of Italy by David Gilmour, Music in Fascist Italy by Harvey Sachs, Partisan Diary written by partisan leader Ada Gobetti, Women and the Italian Resistance by Jane Slaughter, and Resisting Bodies: Narratives of Italian Partisan Women edited and translated by Rosetta D’Angelo and Barbara Zaczek. Charles Neilson Gattey’s Luisa Tetrazzini: The Florentine Nightingale, as well as John Frederick Cone’s Adelina Patti: Queen of Hearts, helped shape my understanding of the lives of opera prima donnas.
Photos
Extras
With the important role music plays in the book, I listened to many different pieces as I researched. Enjoy this playlist to set the mood for In the Light of the Sun.
