Our Missing Hearts: Thought-provoking, heart-wrenching’ Reese Witherspoon, Reese’s Book Club October Pick. - Hardcover

Ng, Celeste

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408716917 ISBN 13: 9781408716915

Publisher: Abacus, 2022

Synopsis

THE REESE WITHERSPOON OCTOBER BOOK CLUB PICK
THE PANDORA OCTOBER BOOK CLUB PICK

A hottest book of Autumn 2023 for THE TIMES, DAILY MAIL, THE INDEPENDENT, VOGUE, STYLIST, TIME MAGAZINE, EVENING STANDARD, THE I and THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY.

'It's impossible not to be moved' Stephen King, New York Times

'Thought-provoking, heart-wrenching...I was so invested in the future of this mother and son, and I can't wait to hear what you think of this deeply suspenseful story!' Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club October '22 Pick)

From the #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, comes one of the most anticipated books of the year - the inspiring new novel about a mother's unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in Harvard's library. He knows not to ask too many questions, stand out too much, stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve 'American culture' in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic - including the work of Bird's mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn't know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn't wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is drawn into a quest to find her. His journey will take him through the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.

Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can turn a blind eye to the most searing injustice. It's a story about the power - and limitations - of art to create change in the world, the lessons and legacies we pass onto our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.

About this title

About the Author

Celeste Ng is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and her work has been published in over thirty languages.

From the Back Cover

Not long after his mother left, Bird had found a slip of paper on the bus, thin as a dead butterfly's wing, in the gap between seat and wall. His father snatched it from his hand and crumpled it, tossed it to the floor. But Bird had already read the words at the top: ALL OUR MISSING HEARTS.

Praise for Celeste Ng

'Tender and merciless all at once' Jesmyn Ward

'Celeste Ng is always witty, engrossing, unsparing and original' Meg Wolitzer

'A writer of the first rank, among the very best in her generation' Joe Hill


'There are few novelists writing today who are as wise, compassionate and unsparing as Ng' Financial Times

From the Inside Flap

From the #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, a deeply heart-wrenching novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child in a society consumed by fear.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in Harvard's library. He knows not to ask too many questions, stand out too much, stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve 'American culture' in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic - including the work of Bird's mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn't know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn't wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is drawn into a quest to find her. His journey will take him through the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.

Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can turn a blind eye to the most searing injustice. It's a story about the power - and limitations - of art to create change in the world, the lessons and legacies we pass onto our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abacus
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1408716917
• ISBN 13: 9781408716915
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352