Tortured Spirits

by Janice De Jesus

Many have known Dr. José Rizal in Philippine HIStory as a hero of the Filipino people and a political martyr who dedicated his life to the independence of Filipinos from Spanish colonizers. But few know of Leonor Rivera, the woman behind the man.

This is HERstory.

More than a century after his death by a firing squad at the age thirty-five in 1896, José Rizal has become costume designer Jeneviere’s hero as well. Jeneviere spent nearly her entire life obsessing over Rizal, regarding him as her muse, her “guardian angel” who inspired her work. A self-professed Rizal scholar, Jeneviere studied the patriot’s life and works hoping one day she would find a man like him. Then, one day, she did. The man of her dreams appeared and claimed that, not only was he the ghost of José Rizal, but that Jeneviere was the reincarnation of Leonor Rivera, the love of his life and the one that got away.

Tortured Spirits is the tale of the woman behind the famed hero intertwined with the story of a modern woman caught between two worlds—her past and present life. Against the backdrop of a past life in 19th-century Philippines, Jeneviere begins to understand the timeless value of loyalty, forgiveness, love, patriotism, cultural pride and self-identity courtesy of her ghostly suitor.

756 pages, Paperback

Published December 12, 2024

About the author

Janice De Jesus was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. An arts and features journalist living in the San Francisco Bay Area, she earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College in Oakland, California. Her first nonfiction book, OmStruck: Healing Heartbreak Through Yoga and Meditation, was published in 2011. Janice's short story, Island Tulip, was included in Field of Mirrors: An Anthology of Philippine American Writers. Not Just Another Pretty Face, her first published novel, was released in early 2015. She teaches ongoing Creative Writing classes in the San Francisco Bay Area where she lives with Lilly, her feline editor extraordinaire. Visit http://JaniceDeJesusAuthor.Blogspot.com and follow on Instagram: @literaryyogini