The Leavers

The Leavers is a messy book, and I mean that in a good way. It's about messy lives. At the age of eleven, Deming Guo becomes Daniel Wilkinson, after his mom, once Peilan and now Polly, a loud, blunt, undocumented immigrant from southeastern China, disappears, and he's adopted by a white couple in upstate New York. Has she betrayed him? Who has he become? As the story moves from Deming to Daniel, from Peilan to Polly, and back again, those questions are answered, but never in ways that leave their lives any less complicated than they were before. Deming/Daniel and Peilan/Polly will feel as real as any made-up characters you encounter this year.