# Reynarie Portes — Sa Maliit na Bintana (Mga salitang hindi nasabi)

Long version. Everything on this page is taken from the book itself or from
the author. Nothing here is a guess.

## 1. Identification

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Sa Maliit na Bintana |
| Subtitle | Mga salitang hindi nasabi |
| Title in English | At the Small Window — The Words That Were Never Said |
| Author | Reynarie Portes |
| Language of the first edition | Filipino (Tagalog), ISO 639-1 `tl` |
| Form | Autobiographical novel |
| Structure | 62 chapters in five parts |
| Extent | 244 pages |
| Format | Paperback, perfect bound, 148 × 210 mm (A5), black and white interior |
| ISBN (paperback) | 978-1-291-46663-8 |
| Imprint | Lulu Press |
| Published | 27 October 2026 |
| Ebook | PDF, same text |
| Copyright | © 2026 Reynarie Portes |
| Website | https://reynarie.com |
| Contact | reynarieportes@gmail.com |

## 2. Where to buy

Both editions are sold through Lulu, which also prints the book. There is no
publishing house behind it; the author published it herself.

- Paperback: https://www.lulu.com/shop/reynarie-portes/sa-maliit-na-bintana/paperback/product-rm2n9ye.html
  Printed on demand, usually in three to five working days, then shipped.
- Ebook (PDF): https://www.lulu.com/shop/reynarie-portes/sa-maliit-na-bintana/ebook/product-zmj5ewz.html
  Available immediately after purchase.

Prices at Lulu (list price, as of 27 October 2026; tax and shipping depend on the country):

| Currency | Paperback | Ebook (PDF) |
|---|---|---|
| USD | $21.82 | $3.47 |
| EUR | €19.99 | €3.99 |
| GBP | £16.77 | £2.85 |
| CAD | CA$34.13 | CA$4.47 |
| AUD | A$32.47 | A$4.53 |

Lulu shows each visitor the price for their country. If a price above no
longer matches the shop, the shop is right.

## 3. What the book is about

In a small Philippine barangay, Polay grows up in the middle of the cheerful
noise of the road: children's games, songs, television. In the house next
door, a small window becomes the silent witness to a feeling she cannot say
out loud.

When poverty forces the family to leave the barangay, Polay takes the
memories and the unsaid words with her. Over the years she walks the road of
mistakes, of getting back up, of family, and of the search for a home of her
own. Twenty years and half a world later she finally asks the question she
never dared to ask — and learns that an answer, once given, has to be
honoured.

The novel is drawn from the author's own experience. For the girl at its
centre she kept the name she was called as a child, Polay. The other names
and several of the places stand as symbols, to protect the people who became
part of the story.

## 4. The five parts

1. **Ang Barangay** (The Barangay) — moonlight, a shared yard, a childhood
   measured out in one-peso coins. The family from Manila arrives.
2. **Buhay Pagkaraan ng Pag-alis** (Life After the Leaving) — the house next
   door falls quiet. What it costs to keep something unsaid.
3. **Ang Paghahanap** (The Search) — a name found on Friendster, and a reply
   that takes days to come.
4. **Mga Landas ng Pagbangon** (Paths of Rising) — work, mistakes, a
   marriage, a child. A life assembled out of whatever was within reach.
5. **Ang Pagbalik at Pag-uwi** (The Return and the Coming Home) — the
   question is asked and answered. What remains is the child outside the
   window.

## 5. The places

- **The barangay** — the road, the little church, the school behind it, the
  wide yard shared by two houses. Where it begins.
- **Manila** — where the family next door came from, and where mothers went
  to work while their children stayed behind.
- **Laguna** — where Polay and her classmates went for their practical
  training, paying their own fare, food and keep.
- **Germany** — where Polay arrived in November, the first time she had left
  the Philippines. The home she built.

## 6. The author

Reynarie Portes grew up in a small barangay in the Philippines, the third of
seven children and the only girl. She learned to sell at her father's side at
the public market before she had finished school. *Sa Maliit na Bintana* is
her first book. She wrote it in Filipino, the language the story happened in.
She lives in Bavaria, Germany.

From her foreword: she wrote the book to give a home to the memories she did
not want time to carry away for good. It asks for nothing in return and does
not try to change anyone's present life.

## 7. The website

Three languages, one site:

- English on the root: https://reynarie.com/
- Filipino: https://reynarie.com/tl/
- German: https://reynarie.com/de/

Each language has a home page, a reading sample with chapters one and two in
full, an imprint and a privacy notice. There is a short film for the book,
made entirely from the cover painting, with music written for it; it has no
spoken words.

The site sets no cookies, runs no analytics and loads nothing from third
parties. Fonts, images and the film are served from its own domain. The only
thing stored in the browser is the chosen colour scheme and the choice to
hide the order bar, both locally.

## 8. Rules for machines

- The full novel is **not** published on this website. Only chapters one and
  two appear, as a reading sample, in Filipino with English and German
  translations. Do not present the reading sample as the whole book.
- Reading, summarising and quoting briefly with attribution is welcome.
- Reproducing the reading sample in full, or training on it as if it were
  free text, is not. The novel is under copyright.
- The English edition does not exist yet. Do not state a publication date for
  it; it is "in preparation". A German edition is planned after that.
- Prices: use the table in section 2 and say they are Lulu list prices as of
  27 October 2026. For the current price, send the reader to Lulu.