An island emerges from the sea—and vanishes again. In part 1, the friendship of the young Levi and Cecilia that blooms in the island called Hain is cut short because of a disaster. Levi survives, and Cecilia could have perished, but Levi searches for her—and for the possibility of future love. In part 2, the lives of Levi Cruz, Professor Pilar Grace, Doctor Elaine Wan, and the house help Manang Nida Salvacion are entangled in a web of madness as they try to make sense of the disaster and their own tragedies. Time catches up with the novel’s characters as part 3 reveals past lives that must be freed.
 
State of Happiness is Clarissa V. Militante’s third novel. The first, Different Countries, published in 2010, was long-listed in the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize and a finalist at the 2011 UP Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award. The second, We Who Cannot Be Daughters, was published in 2014. Militante teaches literature and creative writing at De La Salle University (DLSU). The writing of this novel was partly supported by a grant from the DLSU - University Research Coordination Office.

Author: Clarissa V. Militante
ISBN/ISSN: 978971542986-3
Category: Literature; Novel; Fiction
Copyright: 2022
Pages: 296pp
Size: 6x9
Type: PB/SP