Stoic

"Life is like an onion. You never know how much joy and grief it has in store for you until you peel it back, layer by layer," said Mr. Pai to Franklin.

Franklin Delano's emotional roller-coaster expedition into adulthood at the turn of the millennium is a powerful coming-of-age story that is guaranteed to tug at your heart strings.

Hue, Franklin's closest friend, is a conflicted bi-racial who, conceivably, will do anything to please his mercurial sister, Jasmine. Worryingly, Jasmine was "someone who expected a flash bulb to go off every time she smiled.

"Franklin's gallantry in the face of life's travails will challenge many of your default assumptions about friendship, betrayal, tragedy and heroism.