by Jamie Ford
First published 2013
Twelve-year-old William Eng, a Chinese-American orphan, is convinced that the glamorous film star Willow Frost is really his long-lost mother. Escaping the orphanage, William navigates the gritty streets of Depression-era Seattle, determined to uncover the truth about his past and the mysterious woman on the silver screen.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.), Seattle (Wash.)
Period: 1929
527 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Press