She passes Daniel Leon’s number in China. Vivian tells him she paid Polly’s debts and knows Polly’s alive because she’s talked to Leon. Angry, Daniel confronts her about giving him up for adoption. Michael also invites him to meet up with Vivian.

While in New York, Daniel is contacted by Michael, who tells him he has more information about his mother.

Daniel agrees to bring the application to the Hennings’ party where he will see them next. When they visit, they insist Daniel fill out an application for Carlough. Expelled from school, Daniel moves to New York City, a decision his adoptive parents disapprove of. He borrows money from Angel, telling her he’ll pay her back, but cannot do so. At college however, Daniel falls into online gambling. When Kay and Peter insist that he go to college, Daniel chooses a different college from where his adoptive parents work and where he can be known separately from Roland. He and Roland start a band, but Daniel feels overshadowed by him. He becomes interested in music, gravitating to Roland Fuentes, another outsider. Gradually, Deming starts thinking of himself as Daniel and adapting to life at Ridgeborough. Deming goes with Angel one night to try to find his family at his old apartment in the Bronx, but a new family has moved there. This fantasy endures for months after Peter and Kay take him to New York City to meet their friends Jay and Elaine Hennings, as well as the Hennings’ adopted Chinese daughter, Angel. To fight his alienation and the loss of his culture, Deming imagines he is on a mission at Ridgeborough from another planet. At Ridgeborough, Deming, now Daniel, feels alienated by his white peers. Since Vivian cannot support Michael and Deming, she decides to give Deming up for adoption.ĭeming is taken in by Peter and Kay Wilkinson, a white couple who bring him to live with them at Ridgeborough in upstate New York, where they teach at Carlough College. The situation worsens even more when Leon leaves for China. With her departure, Leon and Vivian have difficulties supporting the family. Leon and Vivian tell him she’s going to be away for a few days, but Polly doesn’t return. When Deming’s mother discusses them moving to Florida, Deming isn’t happy about the prospect, content living in the Bronx-with Leon, his mother’s boyfriend Leon’s sister, Vivian and Vivian’s son, Michael-despite their poverty.

The novel begins with the day 10-year-old Deming sees his mother for the last time.

The leavers novel