Celestina’s House: Q & A with Filipina author Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez

Celestina’s House, a 350-page book about a gothic Filipino family drama—with some romance thrown in—is due to be released in September 2024.

Filipina author Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez, a poet, essayist, and one-time contributing writer to Woman Today and City Man magazines in the Philippines, discussed how the book took almost 18 years to write.

Gonzalez took a creative writing course at the University of Toronto in 2006, when a character she came up with resonated positively with her classmates and teacher.

“(The book) just kinda grew and grew. It took a long time. I put it aside as it wasn’t a finished product. It was percolating,” she said.

Gonzalez then took a one-on-one mentorship course with Kim Echlin to help develop the characters.

She said she sat down during COVID lockdowns and finished the majority of the book.

“Things started moving forward,” Gonzalez said.

Q: Can you tell us what the book is all about?

A:  It’s about a young woman, Celestina Errantes, the daughter of a disinherited Chinese-Filipino heiress and a graphic novelist who has an affinity for the dark side.

A big betrayal happens in the family which brings her almost to the brink of death.  Her rich grandfather gives her (a piece of) property in Malate, the bohemian district of Manila.

(But) the house is haunted by the spirit of her great aunt.

Q: Who is the characted based on?

A. If you’re a writer you always put a little bit of yourself in the character.

(I’ve based her character) on some friends along the way, but mostly (her character just) emerges.

The thing about creative work is that it’s mysterious, it comes from somewhere…from nowhere.

Q: Where did this idea of a haunted house come from?

A. There is a big difference between here (Canada) and there (Philippines).

We have an easier relationship with the spiritual world, with God, angels, saints and ghosts.

They’re alive to us in a real way. My mom was “sensitive” (to spirits). She tells me stories about ghosts.

(My mom told me) one story…she said an old lady appeared in the nursery and asked for directions, then she just disappeared into the wall.

A lot more houses in the Philippines are haunted—there was a presence in my house in the Philippines.

I put as much of our culture in the book. The Philippines is another character in the book.

Q: What is your book’s main message?

A. A lot of themes emerged when I was writing this book.

Themes like: What is home? What makes a home? When does a house start feeling like home?

If you go back (to the Philippines), it’s not the same as before. I went there in 2008, it was totally different from how I remembered it.

You don’t quite belong here and you don’t belong there.

I’m going to explore that more in the sequel.

Let the inspiration come. Let the magic do some of its work. Sometimes a theme wants to emerge, and the universe wants to whisper something to you.

Celestina’s House is available on pre-order here.