Noli Me Tángere

"Silence has drawn her deep breath over Manila; all its life seems gone out, save that a cock's crow alternates with the bells of clock towers and the melancholy watch-cry of the guard. A quarter moon comes up, flooding with its pale light the universal sleep. Even Ibarra, wearied more perhaps with his sad thoughts than his long voyage, sleeps too. Only the young Franciscan, silent and motionless just now at the feast, awake still. His elbow on the window-place of his little cell, his chin sunk in his palm, he watches a glittering star. The star pales, goes out, the slender moon loses her gentle light, but the monk stays on; motionless, he looks toward the horizon, lost now behind the morning mists, over the field of Bagumbayan, over the sleeping sea."

It's the Philippines in the 1800s. The Filipino gentleman Crisostomo Ibarra returns from his studies abroad and finds the city of Manila changed, especially after he learns of his father's mysterious death. After a violent encounter with a monk, Ibarra is excommunicated. Maria Clara has to choose between being a dutiful daughter and the love of her life. Poor Sisa searches for her children, while municipal guards try to capture her for the alleged gold coins that have gone missing from the church. Elias wrestles with a mysterious crocodile in the dark waters of the Pasig. He somehow saves Ibarra, then runs away from the authorities as he joins the Katipunan, the activist-fighters for Philippine independence.

"Noli Me Tangere" written by José Rizal, the National Hero of the Philippines, is a poetic satire that sparked the Philippine revolution against 300 years of oppressive Spanish colonization. His works continue to be widely studied and celebrated, making "Noli Me Tangere" a significant contribution to literature. This English translation, titled "An Eagle Flight," was published by José Rizal, McClure, Phillips & Company in 1900. This audiobook is narrated by Philippine-born narrator, Jensen Olaya.