Celeste Ng's novel follows twelve-year-old Bird Gardner as he searches for his mother, a Chinese American poet who disappeared after her work was banned in a near-future America where Asian Americans face suspicion and surveillance. Bird's father, traumatized by his wife's departure, refuses to discuss her, and Bird must piece together her story from forbidden books and underground networks. The novel alternates between Bird's present-day search and backstory explaining how the country arrived at this point: economic collapse blamed on China, legislation targeting Asian Americans, and a culture of suspicion that makes Bird hide his Chinese heritage. Ng, whose previous novels explored family and assimilation in less overtly political contexts, uses speculative fiction to examine questions about art, resistance, and what we owe each other. The title comes from a phrase Bird's mother used for the stories and memories that Americans have suppressed: the cultural knowledge that has been deliberately forgotten. The novel asks whether art can matter against state power and whether individual courage can survive systemic persecution. Ng writes with her characteristic attention to domestic detail while addressing the largest questions about citizenship and belonging.