Embedded in the back-to-back novels Ang Lumang Simbahan and Barasoain are intimate feelings rooted in love, cruelty, envy, and rebellion. Two methods of exposition are used: the poetic prose in the first novel and realistic narration in the second. In Collantes’s hands, the province of Bulacan is revealed through the eyes of the poor and the wealthy; the conflict between clans through lovers; and the resolution of problems converging in the people’s massing of forces and the blessing of God in whom they have faith.

Published in 2002.