At Night We Are Dancers

This novel spanning seven decades documents the life of Tomas Franco “Cocoy” Sabater and his ascent to becoming one of the Philippines’s most callous vigilante assassins. Punctuated by news clippings from different generations, essays and accounts from a perceptive journalist, internal monologues, a short children’s story from a failed novelist, and a lingering homage to ballet and kundiman, the story progresses in a non-linear fashion, conscientiously dissecting Sabater’s tumultuous pursuit of reprisal as he tries to fix his disintegrating relationship with his dying wife and growing daughter. At Night We Are Dancers is a story of love and family amidst ever-changing political milieu, as well as understanding existence and purpose, but, above all, embracing redemption in its countless forms.

RM Topacio-Aplaon is a novelist from Imus, Cavite, Philippines. He has published two novels in Filipino under the University of the Philippines Press. The first one, Lila ang Kulay ng Pamamaalam (loosely, Lilac is the Colour of Farewell), published in 2015, was shortlisted for the National Book Awards and the Madrigal-Gonzales First Book Award. His second novel, Muling Nanghaharana ang Dapithapon (Dusk Serenades Again) was published in 2018. Topacio-Aplaon currently works for a global sustainability-adherent company based in Manila. He was also a painter and an amateur musician.