The world Celeste Ng conjures up in Our Missing Hearts is a dark dystopian future of book banning, violence and the removal of dissidents’ children in the face of economic instability. Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner navigates that reality — governed by laws designed to create security and prosperity by protecting “American culture” — by staying obediently silent. Then he goes on a quest to find his long-absent mother, a rebellious poet . . . and his cause becomes a catalyst for change.

Ng’s engrossing tale leads readers into a supposedly civilized community pretending to ignore searing injustice and limns the power — and limitations — of art to create better worlds.

Celeste Ng’s prior novels, Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, were both New York Times bestsellers. Little Fires Everywhere was developed into a miniseries on Hulu starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. A limited series based on Everything I Never Told You is in development.