Filipino-Canadian Book Festival Book Club: Reuniting with Strangers

Join us for an engaging afternoon at the UBC Learning Exchange as we discuss Reuniting with Strangers. This exclusive book club event offers a unique opportunity to discuss the book directly with the author and fellow readers who have completed the book.

Event Schedule
Co-hosts: Carmen Lee and Nathalie DLS

• 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Interactive Q&A session with Jennilee. Bring your insights and questions for a lively discussion.
• 3:00 PM: Group photo with Jennilee!
• 3:05 PM – 3:30 PM: Informal book discussion among participants after the author departs.

Important Information

• Prerequisite: Participants must have read Reuniting with Strangers to fully engage in the discussion. You do not need full completion to attend, but please read what you are able to for the event.
• Book Availability: Obtain your copy from the Vancouver Public Library or support local bookstores like Nooroongji, Massy Books, and Iron Dog Books.

Reuniting with Strangers

Inspired by the work of Souvankham Thammavongsa, Catherine Hernandez and Wayson Choy, this unforgettable novel follows the reunification of Filipino caregiver families over one Canadian winter—and the mysterious progress of Monolith, who appears and disappears in their lives.

When five-year-old Monolith is taken from the Philippines to live with his mother in Canada, he immediately lashes out. Unable or unwilling to speak, he attacks her and destroys his new home.

Everyone wants to know why—and everyone has a theory. But unlike the solid certainty his name suggests, the answer isn’t so simple.

From a cliffside town in the Tagaytay highlands of the Philippines, to the Filipino communities in the desert of Osoyoos, the Arctic world of Iqaluit, the suburbs of southern Ontario, Sarnia's Chemical Valley, Montréal’s Côte-des-Neiges, and Toronto’s Little Manila, Austria-Bonifacio takes readers into the kaleidoscope of the Filipino diaspora, uncovering the displacement, estrangement, resilience and healing that happen behind closed doors.

As each chapter unfolds, truths are revealed in humorous, joyful, devastating and surprising ways: through an incisive caregiver's instruction manual, a custody battle over texts and e-mails, a disarmingly direct self-help guide, a series of desperate résumés, a kundiman songbook, and more.

Monolith appears again and again, as a misbehaving boy in a store, the subject of town gossip, a face in a fundraising campaign, a client in questionable care, a dying man’s beacon of hope—and an unlikely new friend.

Compellingly readable, incisive and resonant, Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio’s stunning debut opens a window into the homes and hearts of the Filipino-Canadian community.

Host or Publisher PilipinxPages