Harvard Club of Philadelphia

HCP Book Group: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

The story follows a boy's quest to find his mother after receiving a mysterious letter, leading him through a network of librarians and back to his mother's folktales, exploring themes of censorship, fear, and the power of art. 

The Group will meet on April 12th at a Center City home. Space is limited.

About the Book:

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.

2026 ONE BOOK ONE PHILADELPHIA

• New York Times bestseller

• A New York Times Notable Book

• A Reese's Book Club Pick

• Named a Best Book of the Year by People, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and Oprah Daily

About the Author:

Celeste Ng is the author of three novels, Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere, and Our Missing Hearts.  She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She graduated from Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan). Her fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, and many other publications, and she is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors.

Host / Lead Organizer: Susan Robinson

Date: Sunday, April 12th at 3:00 pm.

Location: Address will be included in confirmation email. 

Coffee and tea will be provided.

Limited to 8 people. 

Click here to RSVP