Praise for Transplants

“Transplants, the first novel by Daniel Tam-Claiborne, is a mesmerizing study of the immigrant experience told with warmth, nuance, and quiet beauty.⁠” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“Dual notions of affinity and dislocation thread the narrative of Tam-Claiborne’s propulsive debut novel.⁠” —The Seattle Times

“Daniel Tam-Claiborne’s debut novel Transplants does something rare: It makes you feel what it’s like to live between worlds without sanding down the edges. Transplants explores language, alienation, and what it means to try to belong in a place that wasn’t built for you. The result is intimate, frustrating, and quietly devastating.⁠” —The Stranger

“To read Transplants now not only affirms those who live amongst us harboring uncertain belonging. To read the novel now also serves to engage new allies through the testaments and revelations of the characters who migrate, immigrate, and negotiate their realities invisible to so many others.⁠” —International Examiner

“Elegant and lyrical…Tam-Claiborne crafts every scene with care, from the first paragraph to the last.⁠” —Asian Review of Books

“There are not enough words to convey how much I enjoyed this book.” —Soapberry Review

“Transplants is a gorgeously written, complex, and profoundly moving meditation on place, language, and belonging. What an accomplished debut by Daniel Tam-Claiborne, whose brilliant voice we will certainly hear a great deal of in the future.” —LAUREN GROFF, NYT bestselling author of The Vaster Wilds and Fates and Furies

“Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a remarkable talent telling stories that need to be told. Transplants is honest, gripping, and filled with beauty. It will transport you.” —ANGIE KIM, NYT bestselling author of Happiness Falls and Miracle Creek

“Tightly woven and sparkling with detail, Transplants follows the journeys of two extraordinary women as they confront questions of family, country, and survival, and in doing so, learn what it means to be their truest selves.” —LISA KO, author of Memory Piece and The Leavers

“A delicately braided story of two women and their searches for belonging within and across cultures, borders, and languages. Transplants is that rare debut: intricate, ambitious, and beautifully realized.” —DOMINIC SMITH, author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos and Return to Valetto

“Transplants rings with authenticity. Deeply affecting and compulsively readable, it captures the complexities of transnational life with wonderful fidelity. A remarkable debut.” —GISH JEN, author of Thank You, Mr. Nixon and The Resisters

“Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a world-class advocate for Asian diasporic communities, connecting education with storytelling for social justice around the globe. Now his debut novel Transplants confronts the bloody fight for selfhood amidst transnational, linguistic, and racial borders. Tam-Claiborne brings us a pure gift—revealing humanity as a braid of destruction and restoration.” —E. J. KOH, author of The Liberators and The Magical Language of Others

Transplants 2025 Fall Tour Schedule

Transplants 2025 Spring Tour Schedule