San Rafael - Leila Rispens-Noel - Bookniverse

The sunlight brings life, but we cannot get too close to the sun. For people like us, it is safer to stay in the shadows. Isabel, a seventeen-year-old living in a poor rural village, longs for the chance to go to college and make a difference in her community. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes and takes away her parents and crushes her ambitions. Meanwhile, Gabriel—the son of the wealthy San Rafael Plantation owner—is attracted to Isabel as conflict between his father and the workers intensifies. But when Marcos declares martial law, their relationship is doomed. Though separated for eleven years, neither has forgotten the other. Will they reunite and be able to fulfill their hopes and dreams? What will become of the workers on the sugar cane plantation?