Lucy Liu makes audiobook narration debut with Celeste Ng’s ‘Our Missing Hearts’
By Bryan Ke
For the first time in her decades-long career, legendary actor Lucy Liu will narrate an audiobook.
Liu, 53, will narrate bestselling author Celeste Ng’s upcoming novel “Our Missing Hearts,” which follows the story of Bird Gardner, a 12-year-old boy whose Chinese American poet mother, Margaret, left their family when he was only nine, Penguin Random House Audio announced on Wednesday.
“For a decade, 12-year-old Bird and his father’s lives have been governed by laws written to preserve ‘American culture’ in the wake of years of economic instability and violence,” the book’s synopsis states. “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.”
Although this is Liu’s first time lending her voice to narrate an audiobook, the “Charlie’s Angels” star has previously voiced characters from animated series and movies such as “Kung Fu Panda” and the Disney Plus series “Star Wars: Visions.”
“Lucy Liu is a talented actor I’ve watched and admired for years, so I’m thrilled and honored that she’ll be recording the audiobook of ‘Our Missing Hearts,’” Ng, the author of the 2014 novel “Everything I Never Told You” and the 2017 novel “Little Fires Everywhere,” said. “And I think that as an Asian American woman and a parent, she’ll bring a particular personal connection to the novel, which is deeply personal for me as well.”
Calling Ng a “beautiful writer,” the “Shazam!” actor said she was incredibly excited when she was asked to narrate Ng’s upcoming novel.
“She worked on ‘Our Missing Hearts’ for seven years and it is spectacularly written and absolute poetry,” Liu continued. “Narrating a book in its entirety is a big task because you delve into the process of what the author is trying to express through the characters and through the story.”
“I hope listeners understand the impact of Celeste’s words about discrimination, racism, separating children from their families and the impact it has on humanity,” she added.
“Our Missing Hearts” is scheduled for release on Oct. 4.
Featured Image via ExtraTV
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