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From Shannon C.F. Rogers, author of the APALA Award-winning I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom, Half a Life Apart is the story of a Filipina American teen, caught between the country she knows and the family she's lost, who uncovers a family secret that threatens everything she thought was true.

Liezel Palad DeJesus is ready for college, despite what her nosey 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 practical 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. Liezel’s thoughtful plan to live at home with her while attending the local college evaporates, along with her sense of purpose.

Her lola has been her entire world since arriving in this country at the age of five, and she barely knows her mother, who works as a caretaker to another family on the opposite end of the globe, though Liezel has always secretly hoped they’d reunite someday.

Suddenly everyone is asking Liezel what she wants to do– but that’s not a question she thought she was even allowed to ask.

Coming Summer 2027