Ng's remarkable dystopian latest (after Little Fires Everywhere) depicts draconian family separation tactics and a normalizing of violence against Asians and Asian Americans in an alternate present. In the wake of the nativist PACT act (Preserving American and Culture Traditions), a piece of legislation that opposes foreign cultural influences, the U.S. government begins reassigning custody of children whose parents are accused of being un-American. Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives with his white father, Ethan, a former Harvard language teacher who now shelves books in the university's library. Bird's mother, Margaret Miu, a Chinese American poet, vanished three years earlier after her work became seen as subversive. Out of the blue, Bird receives a mysterious drawing from her, reminding him of a fairy tale she used to tell him, which he's mostly forgotten. In a world where neighbors spy on each other and people with Asian features are frequently attacked on the street, Ethan has long instructed Bird to lay low. But nothing can stop him from looking for Margaret. While searching for a book that might contain the story Margaret used to tell him, he discovers a network of librarians who secretly collect information about children seized from their families and learns how Margaret's work inspired anti-PACT art demonstrations. Ng crafts an affecting family drama out of the chilling and charged atmosphere, and shines especially when offering testimony to the power of art and storytelling (here's Bird remembering the fairy tale in his mother's voice, "painting a picture with words on the blank white wall of his mind. Long buried. Crackling as it surfaced in the air once more"). Like Margaret's story, Ng's latest crackles and sizzles all the way to the end. (Oct.)

In a dystopian near future, art battles back against fear. Ng's first two novels--her arresting debut, Everything I Never Told You (2014), and devastating follow-up, Little Fires Everywhere (2017)--provided an insightful, empathetic perspective on America as it is. Her equally sensitive, nuanced, and vividly drawn latest effort, set in a dystopian near future in which Asian Americans are regarded with scorn and mistrust by the government and their neighbors, offers a frightening portrait of what it might become. The novel's young protagonist, Bird, was 9 when his mother--without explanation--left him and his father; his father destroyed every sign of her. Now, when Bird is 12, a letter arrives. Because it is addressed to "Bird," he knows it's from his mother. For three years, he has had to answer to his given name, Noah; repeat that he and his father no longer have anything to do with his mother; try not to attract attention; and endure classmates calling his mother a traitor. None of it makes sense to Bird until his one friend, Sadie, fills him in: His mother, the child of Chinese immigrants, wrote a poem that had improbably become a rallying cry for those protesting PACT--the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act--a law that had helped end the Crisis 10 years before, ushering in an era in which violent economic protests had become vanishingly rare, but fear and suspicion, especially for persons of Asian origin, reigned. One of the Pillars of PACT--"Protects children from environments espousing harmful views"--had been the pretext for Sadie's removal from her parents, who had sought to expose PACT's cruelties and, Bird begins to understand, had prompted his own mother's decision to leave. His mother's letter launches him on an odyssey to locate her, to listen and to learn. From the very first page of this thoroughly engrossing and deeply moving novel, Bird's story takes wing. Taut and terrifying, Ng's cautionary tale transports us into an American tomorrow that is all too easy to imagine--and persuasively posits that the antidotes to fear and suspicion are empathy and love. Underscores that the stories we tell about our lives and those of others can change hearts, minds, and history. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In this timely and heart-wrenching novel, author Ng (Little Fires Everywhere) takes listeners to a time in the near future when the United States is ruled by fear and compliance with PACT--the dictatorial Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act. Passed during a time known as the Crisis, PACT harnessed fear and suspicion to legalize horrific acts, including rehoming children of dissidents (often Asian Americans) and purging libraries of books that are deemed unpatriotic. The main character, Bird Gardner, lost his mother because a line from a poem she wrote became the rallying cry of the opposition movement. His journey to find her is the heart of this story. Along the way, Ng reveals both the power and the limitations of art to bring about change, and the importance of trying, no matter the end result. Actor Lucy Liu infuses her narration with tension, adding to the unease that runs throughout the book. VERDICT Liu's gritty and driving narration stays true to the thrust of Ng's grim words; this is not a cozy listen, but one that keeps listeners on the edge of their seats. A necessary addition for all public libraries.--Gretchen Pruett

Bird is 12. Home is a 10th-floor dorm apartment without a working elevator. His Harvard professor father has been demoted to clerical duties at the library. Since his mother, Margaret, left three years ago, Bird is called Noah, anything to disassociate from her since she's a PAO (person of Asian origin) who's being hunted for threatening PACT: the "Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act." She's become the de facto voice behind the battle cry "Our missing hearts," channeling stolen children and sundered families. Agitators, insurgents, and rebels have adopted that phrase ("Not even her best line," Margaret muses) from her obscure poetry collection "written while pregnant, in a sleep-deprived haze." When Bird's new and only friend Sadie disappears, Bird can be a bystander no more. "Bird and Margaret's world isn't exactly our world, but it isn't not ours, either," Ng writes in her author's note, itself a must-read. Indeed, so much of this utterly stupendous tale is hauntingly, horrifically, historically, currently all too real, from removing and caging children to anti-Asian hate crimes, violent protests, police brutality, and despotic (so-called) leadership. Yet Ng creates an exquisite story of unbreakable family bonds, lifesaving storytelling (and seemingly omniscient librarians!), brilliantly subversive art, and accidentally transformative activism. As lyrical as it is chilling, as astonishing as it is empathic, Our Missing Hearts arguably achieves literary perfection.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Ng's eagerly anticipated third novel follows the success of the Reese Witherspoon--produced adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere and Ng's own substantial social-media influence.