Ko, Lisa

Eleven-year-old Deming Guo's Chinese immigrant mother went to her job one day and never returned--gone without a trace. Adopted by a white family and his named changed to Daniel Wilkinson, the boy grows into a restless and misguided young man. Meanwhile his mother must face the mistakes of her past that led to her son's lonely and difficult childhood.

"One morning, Deming Guo's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. Set in New York and China, the Leavers is the story of how one boy comes into his own when everything he's loved has been taken away--and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of her past"--Provided by publisher.