Our Missing Hearts: A Novel [B1460]

2022 HCDJ in excellent condition. Named a Best Book of the Year by People, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and more, A Reese's Book Club Pick. "Thought-provoking, heart-wrenching . . . I was so invested in the future of this mother and son."-Reese Witherspoon. "Riveting, tender, and timely."-People. From the #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, comes the inspiring new dystopian novel about a mother's unshakeable love.

Twelve-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 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. Note: the author does not use quotation marks.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Whew, this is a doozy. A grim and desperate authoritarian future where Americans live and abide by the PACT, blaming and isolating Chinese-Americans for the national decline. Relevant, poignant, and stunningly written, this book is a tough but lovely and important read."; "An incredible thought provoking book that paints a vivid picture of the dangers of a totalitarian state, the dangers of "othering," the dangers of doing nothing, the dangers of thinking that what's happening to the other won't happen to you. Poignant, heartbreaking, heartwarming, tragic, and hopeful all wrapped up in the love of mothers for their children. Not an easy read, but an essential read for everyone who longs for a world in which all people live together in mutual respect and esteem."; "There's a street near where I grew up in Albuquerque called "Indian School." As a kid, I never thought twice about it-it was just a street name, something said so casually that it felt ordinary. It wasn't until high school that I learned what those words meant, and not until adulthood that I understood the horror they held. Reading Our Missing Hearts brought that same quiet, devastating realization back to me-the way something monstrous can hide in plain sight, passed off as normal for far too long."