Our Missing Hearts

The New York Times bestseller, a deeply heart-wrenching novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child.'It's impossible not to be moved' Stephen King'Exceptionally powerful and scaldingly relevant' Observer'Stunning...this novel will break your heart and fire up your courage' Mail on Sunday'Thought-provoking, heart-wrenching' Reese WitherspoonA TIMES BEST PAPERBACK OF APRIL 2023Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left without a trace when he was nine years old. He doesn't know what happened to her-only that her books have been banned-and he resents that she cared more about her work than about him. Then one day, Bird receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, and soon he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of heroic librarians, and finally to New York City, where he will finally learn the truth about what happened to his mother, and what the future holds for them both. Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It's about the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and the power of art to create change.

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!, On another level, Our Missing Hearts is a meditation on the sometimes accidental power of words... I won't give away the splendid conclusion of Ng's book; suffice it to say the climax deals with the power of words, the power of stories and the persistence of memory. It's impossible not to be moved by Margaret Miu's courage, or to applaud her craftiness, [A] feat of meaty storytelling...Ng effortlessly combines a character-led family story with a detective tale, a tribute to books and storytelling and a confrontation with history...a story that is exceptionally powerful and scaldingly relevant, A stunning story of injustice and resistance...Lyrical, intricate, unsparing: this novel will break your heart and fire up your courage, Remarkable and deeply moving... as moving as it is gripping. [Ng] is an astute writer...her writing feels gorgeously supple

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.