The Adventures of Joe Harper picks up where The Adventures of Tom Sawyer leaves off. Twenty years after plundering with Tom, Joe Harper is a failed pirate turned vagabond, wandering in search of the perfect cave in which to die. What he finds instead is a philosophizing Chinese railroad worker and an Amish woman fleeing a forced marriage—a surrogate family that bonds over their hobo adventures. When the three are arrested and forced to work on a chain gang, their narrow escape earns them a powerful enemy, until they are rescued by Tom Sawyer... who just might be the greatest threat they've faced yet.

Inspired by Twain's storytelling, Phong Nguyen expertly evokes the beloved world of Tom Sawyer and extends Twain's savvy commentary to the struggles of Chinese Americans, women, and outcasts in Reconstruction America.