Great read. Lots of colour and pizazz. Very much Stephy, a larger than life character. Found the chapters after the return to Australia to be most gripping and heartrending. Good luck with this book and future writing.

A revealing account of a very real experience of living as an exchange student in the Philippines in the late 60's. Filled with the confidence of youth, willingness to make new friends, while fitting into a very different lifestyle for a year makes this book a 'girls' own adventure' but with an unexpected twist. Well written so that the reader also learns some truths politically and historically that give an insight into a very different way of life.

Steph McCarthy’s account of her experiences, as a relatively naïve 17 year old Australian Rotary Exchange student in the Philippines, is extraordinarily gripping!

As she develops friendships with Philippine Rotary host families and other students, she also finds herself navigating edgy political circumstances as she embarks on various other interesting opportunities she’s been invited to explore.

There are times one wonders how she ever managed to survive, let alone thrive.

Then as the title of her book, “The Tyrant and the Teen” hints, her encounters with the tyrannical President Ferdinand Marcos are chillingly full of dread.

Luckily she lived to tell the tail in this extraordinary book which I found hard to put down until I’d turned the last page.

Mike Piper
Piper Films Australia

As someone also in their late teens in 1968, I can identify with the enthusiasm experienced by the author as she embraced an opportunity to be part of a new community and explore another culture. But most of all, it is the perilous situation she found herself in, which can happen with the openness of youth before caution overtakes impulse.
McCarthy’s detailed account of her time spent in the Philippines surrounding the encounter with Marcos only serves to increase the intensity of the encounter itself and her strength in dealing with it.
The epilogue makes for a profound and heartfelt conclusion to this amazing story.

Reading The Tyrant and the Teen, left me a bit breathless. This engaging story of adventure reveals the amazing opportunity that travel presents. It also demonstrates the extraordinary generosity of the Rotary Club to offer life-changing experiences to the fortunate young people from Australia and other countries who participate in the amazing Rotary Exchange Program. There were unique opportunities such as being exposed to cultural and religious differences, volunteering with a community service that was working to combat malaria and being immersed in the depth of feeling, care and concern from host families. This account will also arouse interest in finding out more about the politics, history and culture of the Philippines.