From the best-selling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads to the colors of the houses to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter, Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants – all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town – and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.
Fantastic!! One of my favorite books of this decade was Ng’s debut novel, Everything I Never Told You. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to follow such great success but Ng managed to write another, equally incredible, novel. I read this in one sitting because I was completely captivated.Â
A Superb Novel With Characters and Plot that Will Keep You Reading I am so excited to say that this second novel of Celeste Ng’s is as good as her first novel Everything I Never Told You. They are similar in some very limited ways, such as family dynamics and character development are involved, but also very different. Ng has a subtle way of writing that evokes characters, settings, and feelings with such expertise you do not even know it is happening. That to me makes a great author, because you can’t see the effort she put into writing, but you can feel it…
A real scorcher of a novel Celeste Ng’s gripping new novel is a combination of domestic drama and thriller, with a nuanced and often witty examination of life choices and guiding principles. It also contains important themes of motherhood, friendship, the significance of art, the burden of secrets, and the behaviors of community. The story examines the regimented lifestyle of suburbia vs. the freethinking individual. The eponymous title has both literal and figurative connotation.Â