THE TYRANT'S DAUGHTER

Laila is forced to straddle two worlds alone as she struggles to reconcile her new life as a political refugee in suburban America with her family's lofty and brutal history.

(Previous Title: King of Nowhere) Fifteen-year-old Laila's life has been turned upside down following her family's exile from their home country. Resilient to the core, however, Laila refuses to languish in her new surroundings. Even when that means that her life is now defined more by sustenance than the luxury of days past. Even when her eight-year-old brother, Bastien, is being groomed to take over a leadership position that he can't possibly understand, much less survive. Even when her mother refuses to let go of the past—preferring to live in a make-believe world of faux-aristocracy to the more mundane reality of their present circumstances. In the process, she discovers that allies and enemies are often hard to differentiate, particularly when emotions become part of the mix. Written in a beautiful, spare style, KING OF NOWHERE is a coming-of-age novel set in extreme circumstances. The story was inspired by the author's extensive travels through war zones, while the characters are based on the families of former dictatorial Arab leaders whom the author met. Julie Bourbeau graduated from Cornell University. After traveling across the globe for her career for years, she determined that when she settled down she wanted to become a writer. Her first book, a middle grade called THE WEDNESDAYS, was published by Random House Books for Young Readers in August 2012.