* New York Times Bestseller
* National Indie Bestseller
* One of TIME Magazine’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time
* One of Cosmopolitan’s 125 Best YA Novels of All Time
* One of Reader’s Digest’s 50 Best Books for Teens of All Time
* Winner of the APALA Honor Award
* Winner of the Walter Honor Award
* Winner of the Freeman Book Award
* Winner of the ‘Mental Health Matters’ Book Shimmy Award
* Winner of the Millikin Medal
* Finalist for the LA Times Book Prize
* Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal
* Finalist for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Debut Author
* Finalist for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best YA Fiction
* Finalist for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award
* Shortlisted for the Inky Award
* Nominated for the Lincoln Award
* Six starred reviews
* Listed on Buzzfeed’s 30 Best YA Books of the Decade
* Among the Wall Street Journal’s top 12 picks of the season
* Nominated for Book of the Month Club’s Book of the Year
* Featured on over a dozen Best of 2018 lists by outlets such as NBC News, the New York Public Library, Booklist, Bustle, Entertainment Weekly, Paste, Buzzfeed, and more
* #5 on the ABA Indie Next list
* ABA Indies Introduce selection
* Junior Library Guild selection
BOOKSHOP | INDIEBOUND | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOKS-A-MILLION
Translated in / coming soon to the following territories: Brazil, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey
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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 reality and magic, past and present, hope and despair, THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, bravery, and love.
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PRAISE:
“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
“Vitally important. In her debut book, Pan communicates what seems many lifetimes of wisdom.” —The Daily Beast
“Wide-ranging and utterly unforgettable, Emily X.R. Pan’s depiction of the search for one’s identity will leave you with shivers.” —PopSugar
“Magic and mourning, love and loss, secrets kept and secrets revealed all illuminate Emily X.R. Pan’s inventive and heart-wrenching debut.” —Gayle Forman, bestselling author of If I Stay and I Was Here
“In this dazzling debut, author Emily X.R. Pan has created a spellbinding narrative about love, family, and what it means to grieve.” —Bustle
“A lush page-turner of a book . . . It’s an exquisite novel with an irresistible narrator and beguiling mystery. Pan has accomplished so much with The Astonishing Color of After; her writing shimmers on every single page. —Locus Magazine
“Pan’s heartbreaking, deeply felt YA debut sensitively probes questions about grief and loss.” —Entertainment Weekly
“This book mesmerized me from page one. With its lyrical writing and heartbreakingly real protagonist, The Astonishing Color of After provides a poignant reminder of grief’s power and the transcendence of love. Emily X.R. Pan utterly transported me to a world reminiscent of Isabel Allende. Haunting at every turn, this is a glorious debut.” —Renée Ahdieh, bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn
“The Astonishing Color of After is an elegant, poignant journey that crosses an ocean of memory and great loss to face the ghosts of the past and find vivid love. An extraordinary debut from a fiercely talented writer.” —Nova Ren Suma, bestselling author of The Walls Around Us
“This beautiful, magical journey through grief made my heart take flight.” —Holly Black, bestselling author of The Cruel Prince and The Darkest Part of the Forest
“The Astonishing Color of After works a delicate magic. Its portrayal of grief is deeply felt, and so too is its deliciously tricky romance. I loved this book.” —Marie Rutkoski, bestselling author of The Winner’s Curse
“My heart has never been more pleasantly devastated. A raw and brilliant debut.” —Roshani Chokshi, bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen
“In a strikingly original debut, Emily X.R. Pan has fashioned a kaleidoscope of marvelous descriptive detail into a portrait of a girl attempting to cope with her mother’s suicide by putting together missing pieces from the past.” —Chicago Tribune
★ “Particularly laudable is Pan’s sensitive treatment of mental illness . . . Dynamic, brave Leigh emerges vividly in Pan’s deft hand, and her enthralling journey through her grief glows with stunning warmth, strength, and resilience.” —Booklist, starred review
★ “Pan’s emotionally charged debut is a compelling exploration of grief and the insidiousness of depression. . . . An undeniable message about the power of hope and inner strength.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ “Pan’s writing takes readers on a journey filled with so much emotion, color, and such well-developed characters with a touch of magic . . . Pan’s debut novel is not to be missed.” —SLJ, starred review
★ “Alchemizing devastation through art, music, poetry and, most importantly, forgiveness and unconditional love. . . . Pan offers an extraordinary journey that proves real, surreal and wholly magical.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
★ “The dichotomous flow of this novel helps to peel off the many layers of the story—death and life, challenges and memories, past and future—all intertwined and continuing to build a sophisticated plot.” —School Library Connection, starred review
★ “This novel is as elegant as it is mesmerizing. . . . This is a truly stellar debut, illuminating not only a family’s ongoing struggle with depression, but also the impact upon those left behind when faced with a friend or family member’s suicide.” —VOYA, starred review
“An evocative novel that captures the uncertain, unmoored feeling of existing between worlds—culturally, linguistically, ethnically, romantically, and existentially—it is also about seeking hope and finding beauty even in one’s darkest hours.” —Kirkus
“Lyrical and suspenseful . . . Pan’s novel shines.” —The New York Times Book Review
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