Celeste Ng's 'extraordinary' novel signed by Little, Brown for October

Bestselling author Celeste Ng’s new novel, Our Missing Hearts, has been signed by Little, Brown for publication in October. 

Clare Smith, literary executive publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for the novel from Caspian Dennis on behalf of Julie Barer at The Book Group. It will be published on 4th October 2022, in tandem with US publisher Penguin Press, and will be a lead title for Little, Brown, supported by an “ambitious publicity and marketing campaign”.

Ng is the internationally bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere (Little, Brown), which was adapted into a major drama on Hulu in 2020, starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, who also served as executive producers. Ng's work has been published in more than 30 languages. 

The publisher said of her new book: “The gripping and extraordinarily moving new novel explores themes such as the power and limitations of art to bring about change in the world, what being a good parent really means, and whether we can retain our humanity in a society where fear dominates.” 

In Our Missing Hearts, 12-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. The synopsis states: "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 does not 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." 

Ng said: “I'm thrilled to be working with Little, Brown UK once more on this new novel, which rises out of questions I perpetually ask myself: How do we raise our children to survive in a world that is vastly different from the one we ourselves knew? What do we want to pass on to them, what will we never be able to explain, and how can we give them hope for the future in spite of everything we know?” 

Smith said: “Our Missing Hearts is an extraordinary, powerful read. Celeste Ng always pulls you into the lives of her characters in the most absorbing, immersive way but this novel takes that to another level. It is quite brilliant.”