MANILA, Philippines – Filipino teenage bookworms have something to look forward to this month as the critically-acclaimed novel written by a London-based Filipina will be released in the Philippines.

Candy Quimpo-Gourlay’s “Tall Story” earned rave reviews when the book was released in the United Kingdom last month. "Tall Story" will be released in a unique illustrated Philippine edition targeted at teenage readers this month.

The book combines the legend of Bernardo Carpio and various Philippine myths with the story of an 8-foot tall Filipino boy who migrates to London to join his family. His mother is a nurse in the UK.

Gourlay said her novel and other unpublished works “all touch on the painful inequalities and issues that emerge from immigration”.

“The British media focus almost exclusively on the impact of immigration on the British economy. I tend to look at its impact on the immigrants themselves and the families so many have left behind,” Gourlay said.
   
Gourlay is no longer new to the issue of migration. She wrote on immigration for 20 years and her work includes a BBC Radio 4 documentary entitled “Motherless Nation”.

“I write in part from personal experience because in my teens, my father left to work in Africa and the Middle East with some devastating consequences for my family,” Gourlay shared.

The Philippine version of "Tall Story" will be published by award-winning Cacho Publishing and distributed in the Philippines by Anvil Publishing. It is illustrated by Yasmin Ong, who also illustrated "Owl Friends" (Cacho Publishing) by Carla M. Pacis.

Meanwhile, Random House, publishing under its imprint David Fickling Books, will be releasing the hardback in early 2011 in the United States where it is already available as an e-book on the Amazon Kindle. It will be published in Italian by RCS Libri of the Rizzoli publishing group.