At the Frankfurt Book Fair: Age of Umbrage / Ein ziemlich böses Mädchen – Reading and Discussion with Jessica Zafra

In cooperation with TRANSIT Book Publishers and the National Book Development Board, Philippines.

Often with a sarcastic undertone and wit, this book reveals the stark contradictions in Philippine society, not as an accusation, but as a detailed observation of completely contrasting, foreign ways of life. Told from the perspective of a girl who initially seems naive, but who then observes with increasing keenness and causticity.

Guada grows up in Manila with her mother, a teacher, after her father, a sailor and womanizer, has run away. To supplement their income, her mother sells homemade street food. Her cooking skills are discovered by a wealthy businessman with excellent political connections, who hires her and lets her and Guada live in his luxury estate. Confronted with this arrogant, corrupt “elite,” the girl quickly realizes that she doesn’t belong, withdraws—and leaves everything behind in a fast-paced final chapter.

Jessica Zafra , born in 1965, is one of the Philippines’ most well-known authors. She writes columns, primarily on cultural topics, for The New Yorker and Newsweek, among others. She is a film and literary critic, also works as a television journalist and screenwriter. “The Age of Umbrage” is her first novel, published in 2021 and reaching its fifth edition in 2024.

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