Jose Rizal’s two novels Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibusterismo are beloved classics in The Philippines. Here, they are read with characteristic flair by Academy-Award Nominee Richard E. Grant, who apart from his work in Film and TV, is well-loved by audiobook listeners.

It might be fiction, but it is also Philippine history.

Rizal travelled to Europe as a student and wrote these books there under difficult circumstances. His friends helped ship them back to Manila where the books were swiftly banned by the Spanish authorities. They took exception to the hilarious satirical portrayals of Philippine society at the time - and paticurlaly of the Spanish Friars and their nominal secular overlords. The vivid characters in these books are known to all Filipinos, and many of the personalities described are said to persist to the present day.

However, Rizal paid a high penalty for self-expression; he was executed by firing squad on 30 December 1896 mainly because of these two books. Filipinos, inspired by Rizal, declared independence, establishing Asia's first democratic republic in 1898, which survived in the face of a bitter war against US occupying forces until 1901. In 1946, exactly half a century after Rizal's execution, Filipinos became the first Asians to win independence from Western colonialism.