A debut novel exploring the cost of migration on children left behind in the Philippines is set to be released this August by one of the world’s largest publishing houses — marking a landmark moment for Filipino representation in British literature.
The Left-Behind Child, written by award-winning Filipino-British poet Romalyn Ante, will be published on 13 August 2026 by Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK. Priced at £16.99 in hardback, the novel draws on a story familiar to millions of Filipino families: a mother who leaves home to work abroad, and the child who is left to carry the weight of that absence.
Set in Lipa, Philippines in 2001, the novel follows Neneng, an 11-year-old girl whose mother Rosa departs to work as a nurse overseas. With her father distant and her siblings and relatives unsettled, Neneng is left to hold the household together alone. The experience hardens her — she vows never to become a nurse, and never to trust her mother again. But as she grows and fights to build her own life, buried truths about her family’s past begin to surface, and the reasons behind her mother’s departure come into focus.
Ante herself lived a version of that story. Born in Lipa, Batangas, she was 16 when her mother — an NHS nurse — brought the family to Wolverhampton, England. She went on to train as a nurse herself, specialising in renal dialysis before shifting to psychotherapy and the mental healthcare of young people. She also co-founded Harana Poetry, a literary journal for poets who write in English as a second or parallel language.
Her poetry career is already decorated. Her debut collection, Antiemetic for Homesickness (2020), was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize, longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, and named among the best poetry books of the year by the Irish Times and Observer. Her second collection, AGIMAT, followed in 2024. She holds a Fellowship from the Royal Society of Literature.
The Left-Behind Child is her first work of fiction — a coming-of-age story the publisher describes as vivid and immersive, drawing comparisons to Cecile Pin’s Wandering Souls and Elaine Feeney’s How to Build a Boat.
For the Filipino diaspora, the novel’s publication carries weight beyond its literary merit. The experience of the “left-behind child” — raised by grandparents, aunts, or older siblings while a parent works abroad — is one of the defining realities of OFW family life, yet it has rarely been told through mainstream fiction. That a major British publisher is now releasing such a story signals a shift in whose voices are considered worthy of a global readership.
Ante shared the news directly with TGFM, writing: “For so long, Filipino stories have been underrepresented in the UK. We’re often seen as carers, healers, and nurses on the frontline — but not enough light is given to the families we leave behind, and the children who grow up carrying the cost of migration.”
Media and publicity inquiries for the book can be directed to Priya Roy, Publicity Director at Chatto & Windus, at PRoy@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk.
