Half a Life Apart

Liezel Palad DeJesus is ready for college, despite what her nosy school counselor thinks. Liezel doesn’t need help. She’s always understood her role in a family of Overseas Filipino Workers: to make the most of her US education, get a job, and support the extended clan.

But as political winds shift and fear rips through their immigrant community, Liezel’s grandmother makes the decision to self-deport. Suddenly, Liezel’s thoughtful plan to live at home with her while attending the local college evaporates. Her lola has been her entire world since she came to the US at five, and she barely knows her mother, who lives on the opposite end of the globe. Liezel has always hoped they’d reunite someday, but that dream feels as far away as her mother herself.

Suddenly everyone is asking Liezel what she wants to do– but that’s not a question she thought she was even allowed to ask. And when things change for Liezel again - in a big way - she's forced to make a decision that could affect the rest of her life.

Moving, powerful, and written in Roger's signature prose, this is an unmissable and timely YA novel.