Sabina Murray grew up in Australia and the Philippines and is currently a member of the MFA faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the author of Tales of the New World, A Carnivore’s Inquiry, Forgery, Valiant Gentlemen, and The Caprices, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. In The Human Zoo (Grove Press), Filipino American Christina “Ting” Klein travels from New York to Manila to escape her imminent divorce and to start research for a biography of Timicheg, an indigenous Filipino taken to America at the start of the 20th century to be exhibited as part of a “human zoo.” It has been a year since Ting’s last visit and since Procopio “Copo” Gumboc swept the elections and took power as president. Arriving unannounced at her aunt’s aristocratic home, Ting quickly falls into upper-class Manila life. As the days pass, she witnesses modern Filipino society languishing under Gumboc’s terrifying reign. To make her way, she must consider the aristocratic traditions of her extended family while tempering her stance toward a regime her loved ones are struggling to survive. Still, Ting soon finds herself personally confronted by the horrifying realities of Gumboc’s power.
