I Am Joey
This novel starts when Josefina Veluya Guerrero’s life falls apart. Opening in 1941, the story introduces Joey after she has been lifted from rural poverty and obscurity to the highest level of Philippine society in the capital city with a successful, renowned husband and a precious daughter. Almost simultaneously, disease, separation, and war smash Joey, but she uses her status as a social outcast to provide aid and information to the emerging resistance movement as the Japanese empire overruns and occupies the Philippines.
This chronicle of WWII in Manila follows a real protagonist through her actual life story, although her thoughts, emotions, and some interactions are fictional. Ghrist skillfully relates the ordeal of Joey, who becomes a survivor, spy, hero, and eventually a symbol. I Am Joey is presented as first-person biographical fiction rather than a third-person biography.
Ghrist stays close to Joey’s life story while painting a vivid picture of her inner struggles and indominable spirit which extend beyond the war and liberation. Fact and fiction are skillfully melded to bring the reader into Joey’s doubts, fears, daring, and triumphs. The result is an engaging story of personal struggle and triumph, the substance of which is true.
