GZLA

NEST OF TONGUES

August 2026, Random House Children's Books, 384 pp

A lyrical, fantastical horror about vampires from the Philippines . . . and a hunter on their tail. Two siblings fight to protect their secrets, their community, and most of all, each other, in this evocative novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Patron Saints of Nothing.

As Filipino vampires known as manananggal, Lily and her brother Caleb understand the value of a secret. After all, to hide is to survive. To lie is to live. They’d never harm another person—but people only believe their worst fears around creatures of myth. So the siblings stay quiet. They follow their community’s rules.

Until a monster hunter turns up and kills a fellow manananggal, anyway.

Until Caleb is marked as the hunter’s next prey.

Suddenly, he and Lily realize there’s always been more at stake than the lives of their people. Because when doing everything “right” is still a death sentence, what can they take as truth? As the hunter nears, the siblings must decide if they’ll be driven from the only home they’ve ever known . . . or fight to protect a community that may already be lost.

INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS

English (UK)

Hot Key Books

NOTE: A sequel is under contract.

GZLA

EVERYTHING WE NEVER HAD

August 2024, Kokila/Penguin Random House, 288 pp

STARRED REVIEWS

KIRKUS – “A powerful and moving family saga.”

BOOKLIST – “Exquisite.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “A must for all collections, this four-generation saga of Filipino fathers and sons will resonate with teenagers of all cultures.”

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY – “Emotionally resonant…richly layered”

BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS – “insightful and powerful…a masterclass”

ACCOLADES

National Book Award for Young People’s Literature longlist
Indie Bestseller’s List

GZLA

PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING

June 2019, Kokila/Penguin Random House, 304 pp

A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder.

Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story. Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reconcile the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth — and the part he played in it.

As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a page-turning portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity.

STARRED REVIEWS

VOYA MAGAZINE – “Compelling and informational”

KIRKUS – “Powerful and courageous.”

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY – “Passionately and fearlessly, Ribay (After the Shot Drops) delves into matters of justice, grief, and identity in this glimpse into the life and death of a fictional victim of President Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “Part mystery, part elegy, part coming of age, this novel is a perfect convergence of authentic voice and an emphasis on inner dialogue around equity, purpose, and reclaiming one’s lost cultural identity.”

BOOKLIST – “Ribay provides a much-needed window for young people of the West to better understand the Filipino history of colonization, occupation, and revolution.”

ACCOLADES