Shadows of Our Night

About the Book

Danilo Cruz, a hardworking farm boy and the protagonist in Shadows of Our Night, starts off as a perceptive and sensitive young man who reflects on the country’s past in his valedictory address at high school graduation. He truly believes in the innate goodness of the people in his barrio. After he goes to Manila to study engineering, his altruistic nature begins to erode when he is exposed to the sordid conditions in the city. Through grit and tenacity of will, Danilo finds hope and love amidst the damning excesses of wealth and the battered ruins of human dignity.

About the Author

Allyn Cauagas Ryan was born in the Philippines and came to the United States in 1957 as a foreign student. Her studies at UCLA led to a BA in English and an MFA in Theater and Film. At UCLA, her story “A Trip to Manila” was a finalist in the Samuel Goldwyn Creative Writing contest. A one-act play, “The Earth Is a Silver Peso,” was produced at the old 3K7 Theater on campus. Other stories appeared in the Uclan Review and Westwind, as well as the University of the Philippines’ Literary Apprentice. She has previously published four books: Salt Mines, Phantom of Alabat, Ulan the Rain Maiden, and RM, a Biographical Novel of Ramon Magsaysay. Now a retired college instructor in English and English-as-a-Second-Language, she resides with her husband in Sun City Palm Desert and Twin Peaks, California.