New novel offers window on Filipino expat experience

VICTORIA, BC — In the Philippines, one out of every three households includes a family member who lives and works overseas. More than 660,000 Filipinos work in Canada; three million work in the United States.

Legacy of a Filipina, a new novel by Charles Au Lavoie, examines the divide between these Filipinos and the locals who encounter them on a daily basis, and the prejudices on both sides.

As the story moves from Canada’s West Coast to Honolulu and the Philippines, Legacy of a Filipina explores the immigrant experience and the universal themes of love, loss and new beginnings.

Author Charles Au Lavoie worked as a commercial translator and later as a computer consultant, after completing a doctorate in Spanish philosophy. He is a playwright and essayist whose works are published in French and English. He now lives in Victoria, British Columbia.