Of Princes and Patriots by Laura Lee Dooley is one of those books that slowly draws you in and stays with you long after you’ve finished it. It mixes historical fiction with a quiet hint of speculative mystery.
At the heart of the story is Chanchai, an orphan boy living on the streets of old Bangkok with no memory of who he was before. The story starts on a strange night when stars fall over Siam, and something happens to him in a sugarcane field that changes everything. He doesn’t age like everyone else, and his wounds heal way faster than they should. Instead of making him into some kind of superhero, Dooley keeps him as he really is: a quiet kid just trying to find where he belongs.