This year’s One Book, One Philadelphia pick was released in 2022 but is uncannily resonant of today’s times
In Celeste Ng's dystopian novel, a future America set in a time of extreme censorship and erasure of voices. Four years on, it feels eerily familiar.
Celeste Ng’s 2022 New York Times bestseller, Our Missing Hearts, is the 2026 One Book, One Philadelphia pick. The dystopian novel is about a 12-year-old biracial Chinese American boy and his quest to be reunited with his mother in an authoritarian America.
“I’m thrilled and honored,” Ng said Wednesday, speaking from her Boston study a few hours before she hopped on a plane to Philadelphia for Thursday morning’s announcement.
Ng’s 2017 novel Little Fires Everywhere was adapted into the 2020 Hulu mini series of the same name, starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.
“I love community reads programs,” Ng said. “I relish in this idea that readers will have a shared experience, that they will be able to talk to each other, get to examine the world they are living in, ask if this is the world they want to live in, and figure out what they are going to do about it.”
In Ng’s 335-page paperback, a future America is living under the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act, where books are banned, voices are censored, and citizens are forbidden to criticize a government for its wrongdoings, especially its unfair treatment of people of color. People of Asian descent are particularly mistreated, considered scapegoats for a severe economic crisis.
Ng wrote Our Missing Hearts in 2020 during the pandemic when AAPI hate was at an all-time high. Years on, Ng’s PACT mirrors present day America under President Trump, where under the his executive order to "restore truth and sanity to American history, historic panels honoring George Washington’s enslaved staff were removed from the Independence Hall National Park last month.
(A federal judge ordered the panels to be restored on Feb. 17. But the next day, the Trump administration appealed the decision and the return of the plaques to the park has been halted.)
“I sort of hoped the book would get farther way from reality as the years went by, but that’s not the case so far,” said Ng, who stressed she’s not a psychic, but just aware of history. “We are in a world where we just aren’t going to mention George Washington had enslaved people and we are taking down the gay pride [flag] at Stonewall, trying to pretend that none of this happened.”
Bird is the 12-year-old in the center of Ng’s book. His Chinese mother criticizes America through her poetry and art. She leaves Bird with his white dad, and continues to make public art that unites Americans and encourages them to speak out.
“I feel like Philly is a living example of that,” said Ng, who was born in Pittsburgh and periodically visits Philadelphia. The Mütter Museum is one of her favorite places to visit. She’s keeping an eye on how the museum handles its collection of human remains.
“Philadelphians get to walk past history daily. There is art all around you, reminding you of the stories that form you and are a part of your lives. Philly is a space that can start connection through all of the beautiful sculptures and murals reminding us that change is possible.”
Our Missing Hearts is the Free Library’s 24th One Book, One Philadelphia pick. Last year’s choice was Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter’s 2023 memoir, The Upcycled Self.
The annual program urges Philadelphians to read the same book, fostering literacy and civic dialogue. After Thursday’s announcement, readers will have until April 7, to finish reading Our Missing Hearts. Ng will return to Philadelphia on that day for a book signing and celebration.
A series of events at Parkway Central and the 54 branch libraries will take place throughout the year.
“I hope the conversation will get people thinking, what do we lose when stories disappear,” Ng said. “What do we do if stories never get told? What happens when we intimidate people out of talking about the past and learning from it? I’m really grateful to the Free Library of Philadelphia for starting these conversations in this moment.”