One morning, Deming Guo’s mother goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. Left with no one to care for him, the 11-year-old is adopted by two white professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. Far away from all he’s ever known, he struggles to reconcile his new life with his mother’s disappearance and the memories of the family and community he left behind.

A vivid and moving examination of borders and belonging, The Leavers was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction and the winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction.

Join the Alumni Book Club for a talk with author Lisa Ko on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 1 p.m. Register here. Sign up here to join the Alumni Book Club.

The event is part of Alumni Week activities celebrating all things UWindsor through Oct. 3. Find a full schedule of events on the Alumni Association website.