Our Missing Hearts: Reese's Book Club (A Novel)

The Reese's Book Club October Pick • An instant New York Times bestseller
From the #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, comes the inspiring new novel about a mother’s unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear.
“It’s impossible not to be moved.” —Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review
“Riveting, tender, and timely.” —People, Book of the Week
“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)
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left the family when he was nine years old without a trace. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, his family's life has 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.
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 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 librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, 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 ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of October 2022: I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng’s latest novel following her megahit Little Fires Everywhere. After devouring Hearts in two days, I can tell you it’s even better than Fires. At the center of the story is a family separated by a nationalistic movement that feels chilling in how it might just happen today. A mom mysteriously disappears—and her young son learns why on a courageous quest to find her, aided by everyday heroes in unexpected places. The prose sings as the pieces click. This thought-provoking story serves as a warning, a dystopian fairy tale, and a suspenseful thriller with moments of hope that buoyed me as I read. It’s fiction as revolution. You’ll question everything after you finish the last page—and for days after. This isn’t just one of my favorite books of October, it’s one of my favorite books of the year. — Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor