A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A “powerful and courageous” (Kirkus Reviews) coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder.
“Brilliant, honest, and equal parts heartbreaking and soul-healing.”—Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Shout
“Passionately and fearlessly, Ribay delves into matters of justice, grief, and identity.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story.
Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole truth—and the part he played in it.
As gripping as it is lyrical,
Patron Saints of Nothing is a riveting portrayal of the struggle to reconcile grief and guilt, faith and family.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the CenturyA Best Book of the Year: NPR, Paste, New York Public Library, Publishers Weekly, USA Today
Randy Ribay was born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest. He is the author of
After the Shot Drops and
An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. He earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Master's Degree in Language and Literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He currently teaches English and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A National Book Award Finalist • An NPR Best Book of the Year • An NBC News Best Asian American Young Adult Book of the Year • A Paste Best Young Adult Book of the Year • A New York Public Library Top 10 Best Book of the Year • A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year • A Raleigh News & Observer Best Book of the Year • A Junior Library Guild audio selection • National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) Freeman Book Award Winner • An L.A. Times Book Award Nominee • Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award • Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the 21st Century
“Powerful and courageous.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Deep, nuanced, and painfully real.”
—Booklist, starred review
“A perfect convergence of authentic voice and an emphasis on inner dialogue.”
—School Library Journal, starred review“Passionately and fearlessly, Ribay delves into matters of justice, grief, and identity.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review“Compelling and informational.”
—VOYA, starred review “A must-read.”
—Erin Entrada Kelly, author of Newbery Award-winning Hello, Universe “Lyrical. Stunning. Searing . . . The real deal.”
—Mark Oshiro, author of Anger Is a Gift “Riveting, brilliantly told and deeply moving.”
—Francisco X. Stork, author of Disappeared “Complex, gripping, haunting and deeply human . . . a story alive with longing and pain and grace.”
—Kelly Gilbert, author of Picture Us In The Light
