Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we’re excited about.
I’m Waiting For
Our Missing Heartsby Celeste Ng
Pages: 352
Published by Penguin Press
Publication Date October 4, 2022
Goodreads
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in Harvard University’s library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or 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 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.
Why I’m Waiting
I’ve been waiting for Celeste Ng to come out with a new book ever since I read Little Fires Everywhere. I love her writing style and the twisty moving plots she creates. Our Missing Hearts is a book I’ve been waiting for a long time.
This one has my interest as I loved Little Fires Everywhere (both the book and the series). I hope that you enjoy this one!
I still haven’t read anything from Celeste Ng, but I’ve heard nothing but great things and I am so intrigued by this premise. I hope you love it!
Oh wow this sounds good. I remember hearing good things about Little fires too. and an underground network of librarians- sounds good!
I haven’t read anything by her yet. This book definitely interests me. Adding it to my TBR. Hope you enjoy it!
I love the sound of this one. I like the library setting, and wonder why his mother left him at such a young age.