So begins The Mango Tree, a poignant and deceptively entertaining memoir of growing up as a mixed-race Filipina ânobodyâ in suburban Florida as Annabelle traces the roots of her upbringingâall the while reckoning with her erratic fatherâs untimely death in a Fort Myers motel, her fiery motherâs bitter yearning for the country she left behind, and her own journey in the pursuit of belonging.
With clear-eyed compassion and piercing honesty, The Mango Tree is a family saga that navigates the tangled branches of Annabelleâs life, from her childhood days in an overflowing house flooded by balikbayan boxes, vegetation, and juicy mangoes, to her winding path from medical school hopeful to restaurant critic. It is a love letter to her fellow Filipino Americans, her lost younger self, and the beloved fruit tree at the heart of her family. But above all, it is an ode to Annabelleâs hot-blooded, whip-smart mother Josefina, a woman who made a life and a home of her own, and without whom Annabelle would not have herself.