Our Missing Hearts
- Author Celeste Ng
- Narrator Celeste Ng, Lucy Liu
- Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
- Run Time 9 hours and 52 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Alternative history fiction, Dystopian and utopian fiction, Fiction: general and literary, Modern and contemporary fiction, Speculative fiction.
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Listen to a sample
What to expect
Read by award-winning actress Lucy Liu, with an author's note read by Celeste Ng.
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.
Critics Review
A stunning story of injustice and resistance…Lyrical, intricate, unsparing: this novel will break your heart and fire up your courage
A lyrical and touching testimony to maternal love, it’s also a salutary reminder of how easily freedoms can be lost and of the power of words to change lives
One of the biggest books of the year…deeply moving
Beautifully stirring and heart-wrenching, this powerful novel from the author of Little Fires Everywhere is a homage to love and will tug at your heartstrings
A beautiful, thoughtful book…Brilliant and moving
Ng’s compelling writing paints a picture of a world so real you can almost touch it. Despite the darkness of the story, the love of a family stands out.
[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
Remarkable and deeply moving… as moving as it is gripping. [Ng] is an astute writer…her writing feels gorgeously supple
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
Powerful and brilliant
Thought-provoking… My heart broke and was remade several times over by this book
Ng, whose previous novels subtly probed tensions surrounding race,class, and gender, boldly tackles
anti-Asian racism head-on
Shot through with vivid color and rising hope, an unflinching yet life-affirming drama about the power of art and love to push back in dangerous times…Ng’s brilliance lies in leaving the reader with an unshakable belief that against all odds, people will find the courage to resist, revolt, and defend . . . remarkable
[Ng] has really hit her authorial stride in her eagerly anticipated third novel, Our Missing Hearts… It’s her masterful weaving huge themes of race, class, privilege and identity with the simplicity of everyday lives that has made her a deserved international phenomenon
Ng’s third novel is eagerly awaited and does not disappoint…Our Missing Hearts deftly weaves together a coming-of-age story with a threatening vision of a heavily censored future
Little Fires Everywhere became a global phenomenon and now author Celeste Ng is back with another gripping tale
Tense, poignant and chilling
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