The Bronx. It’s America at its most vibrant and chaotic; it’s also where one foster care caseworker—a
would-be white savior from New England, a twentysomething kid prematurely jaded by the system—takes it upon himself to reunify a troubled birthmother with her children, against the recommendation of his world-weary but wise Hispanic boss. (Nevermind the fact that the mother in question just might have a crush on him—either that, or she’s running game for her own purposes. And nevermind the fact that her ex-husband, a serial abuser whose casefile’s thick with bruises, just might have killed someone to protect her in the past—and might be willing to do so again.) What follows is a vivid portrait of lives intersecting and colliding as they grapple with timeless issues: poverty and privilege, parenting and responsibility, drug abuse and insanity.
As gritty as a cracked city street, as full of light and shadow as a crumbling row house, as hard to discard as a piece of summer sidewalk bubblegum stuck to your shoe,
The Birthparents does for early 21st century New York what Charles Dickens did for mid-19th century London, not only preserving it for posterity but bringing it to life, and showcasing the shared humanity of characters climbing up (or clinging to) every rung on the societal ladder. It’s a stunning debut by an incredible new voice—Frank Santo.
Industry Reviews
"Emotionally intense...Santo's story embraces human nature in all its ugliness."
- Booklist
“The Birthparents is the most moving novel about the disconnects within American class and culture, about love, poverty, race, and about the twisted embraces of human need, that I've read in years. Sometimes you read a book that renews your faith in the power of literature. The Birthparents is one of those books, a novel that heals as it hurts and in the healing hurts yet again. It makes you want to weep for the human condition. It's rare that a great prose stylist is also a master storyteller and an accurate reporter; Frank Santo is such a writer, and The Birthparents demonstrates that multi-talent. There's a line in the book that captures the portent of its message: ‘I wasn’t any kind of savior, white or otherwise: I was a ferry captain on the River Styx.’ If there's a better novel about New York I haven't run across it. The Birthparents is also very timely. I believe it will be remembered as one of the great novels of the first quarter of the 21st century.”
— Ernest Hebert, author of The Darby Chronicles and The Old American
“This book broke my heart, made me laugh, built me up, and broke it once more. A read I’ll remember for quite some time, and characters I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
— Andrew Boryga, author of Victim
"The Birthparents by Frank Santo is a must-read. Beautifully written, it swings from humor to pathos and draws us into the gripping story of a young man outside his comfort zone in the world of the Bronx’s child welfare system. The characters are so real you can see them—you know them—full of contradictions as they all struggle with the life they’ve been given to happy, and not-so-happy, endings. Go out and buy it now—you won’t be sorry."
— B.A. Shapiro, bestselling author of Metropolis, The Collector's Apprentice, and The Muralist
