{"product_id":"9780062364791","title":"Mislaid","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE 2015 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA sharply observed, mordantly funny, and startlingly original novel from an exciting, unconventional new voice—the author of the acclaimed \u003cem\u003eThe Wallcreeper\u003c\/em\u003e—about the making and unmaking of the American family that lays bare all of our assumptions about race and racism, sexuality and desire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStillwater College in Virginia, 1966. Freshman Peggy, an ingénue with literary pretensions, falls under the spell of Lee, a blue-blooded poet and professor, and they begin an ill-advised affair that results in an unplanned pregnancy and marriage. The two are mismatched from the start—she’s a lesbian, he’s gay—but it takes a decade of emotional erosion before Peggy runs off with their three-year-old daughter, leaving their nine-year-old son behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorried that Lee will have her committed for her erratic behavior, Peggy goes underground, adopting an African American persona for her and her daughter. They squat in a house in an African-American settlement, eventually moving to a housing project where no one questions their true racial identities. As Peggy and Lee’s children grow up, they must contend with diverse emotional issues: Byrdie deals with his father’s compulsive honesty; while Karen struggles with her mother’s lies—she knows neither her real age, nor that she is “white,” nor that she has any other family.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYears later, a minority scholarship lands Karen at the University of Virginia, where Byrdie is in his senior year. Eventually the long lost siblings will meet, setting off a series of misunderstandings and culminating in a comedic finale worthy of Shakespeare.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47078709919984,"sku":"9780062364791","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780062364791_p0.jpg?v=1763630434","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780062364791","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}