Fairest: A Memoir by Meredith Talusan

From Viking: “A ball of light hurled into the dark undertow of migration and survival.” –Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous“It’s a love story, a queer story, an immigrant story, an American story, a coming of age story–a revolutionary story.” –Amber Tamblyn, author of Era of IgnitionA singular, beautifully written coming-of-age memoir of a Filipino boy with albinism whose story travels from an immigrant childhood to Harvard to a gender transition and illuminates the illusions of race, disability, and genderFairest is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, a “sun child” from a rural Philippine village, who would grow up to become a woman in America. Coping with the strain of parental neglect and the elusive promise of U.S. citizenship, Talusan found childhood comfort from her devoted grandmother, a grounding force as she was treated by others with special preference or public curiosity. As an immigrant to the United States, Talusan came to be perceived as