FINALIST for the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2017
WINNER OF THE 2016 PEN/BELLWETHER PRIZE FOR FICTION
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2017 BY OPRAH, NPR, BUZZFEED AND HUFFINGTON POST
One morning, Deming Guo’s mother, Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon and never comes home. No one can find any trace of her.
With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left mystified and bereft. Eventually adopted by a pair of well-meaning white professors, Deming is moved from the Bronx to a small town upstate and renamed Daniel Wilkinson.
But far from all he’s ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his adoptive parents’ desire that he assimilate with his memories of his mother and the community he left behind.
Set in New York and China, The Leavers is a vivid examination of borders and belonging. It’s a moving story of how a boy comes into his own when everything he loves is taken away, and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of the past.
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
Lisa Ko is the author of the novels Memory Piece and The Leavers, which was a national bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Ko’s writing has appeared in Best American Short Stories and The Believer. She lives in New York City.