A Memoir
Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful.
A journey across continents — from the fog of a Swiss lakeside town to the gold light of the Philippines — in search of the truth about love, loss, and the doors that close without warning.
Kindle · Paperback · Hardcover
The Story
When Dario’s mother returns to the Philippines, leaving him behind in the polished, rigid world of Switzerland, he learns a devastating lesson early on: love is a door that can close without warning.
Raised in a house where warmth is rationed and silence does the talking, Dario learns to survive by becoming small — until a friendship with Emil in Zurich cracks open the possibility of another kind of life: one lived out loud.
Years later, a journey back to the Philippines — and to Louisa, the mother who left — becomes a reckoning with everything he sealed away. A powerful memoir about cross-cultural identity, the deep wounds of childhood abandonment, and the courageous, messy work of learning how to stay in the present.
“Not a slam. Not a bang. Just a quiet click that sounded like finality.”
Two Worlds
Every page moves between them.
Switzerland — Kreuzlingen & Zurich
Fog on the lake. A polished, rigid house where warmth is rationed and silence does the talking. Where snow didn’t look magical — it looked like something that erased. Where a boy learns to survive by becoming small, and everyone applauds him for it.
“Dario’s first memory of Switzerland was not a place, but a sensation: cold that had weight.”
The Philippines — The Journey Back
Humid air, gold light on the water, the sea that remembers his name. The place where the door once closed — and where Dario must return to face Louisa, the mother who left, before time closes it for good.
“Love did not end when someone died. It changed shape.”
From the Pages
Fine is not a feeling. Fine is a fence. What’s on the other side?
What Readers Say
Begin the Journey
Wake up to this one. Available now worldwide.
