"Emily X.R.
Pan's brilliantly crafted, harrowing first novel portrays the vast
spectrum of love and grief with heart-wrenching beauty and candor.
This is a very special book."--John Green, bestselling author of
The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down
A stunning,
heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for
fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng.
Leigh Chen Sanders
is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by
suicide, she turned into a bird.
Leigh, who is half
Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal
grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her
mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts,
uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her
grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact
that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret
crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.
Alternating between
real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and
despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a stunning and
heartbreaking novel about finding oneself through family history,
art, grief, and love.