The Girl From Carmen: Part Two - Fairgrounds and Battlegrounds

Philippines, 1972, President Ferdinand E. Marcos is in charge of a country on the verge of civil war, with student and communist factions agitating in the north, and Muslims insurgents battling for their own territory in the south. Martial Law had been declared and the country is under military control but the middle islands of the Philippines, the Visayas, are hardly affected and life in Carmen, a small town on the east coast of Cebu, carries on as usual - the main worry for most people being how to put food on the table for another day. Marietess is 16 years old and has just suffered a serious illness, the medical bills have bankrupted her family and now she needs to earn money to help repay their debts. When the peryahan, the travelling fair, arrives, she jumps at the opportunity to travel with it and very soon she is following a Gypsy lifestyle, moving from town to town and sleeping under the stars each night. She has many adventures on the way, some are frightening, some are hilarious, some are so dangerous that she is lucky to escape alive. As she matures, she turns into a beautiful and desirable young woman and it isn't long before young man are battling for her favours. The bullets are flying thick and fast. Which one will she marry? The choice is difficult, and one of those young men will kill to marry her The stories are told against an authentic background of the Philippines as they were in the 1970s. All the places Marietess visits on her travels still exist, and her progress can be followed on Google Maps and Google Earth.