And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.Įnter 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. In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned - from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. 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.Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past.
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. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.Įnter Mia Warren-an enigmatic artist and single mother-who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons.
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.
I finished Little Fires Everywhere fully satisfied-yet also not quite ready to leave the world Ng so deftly created.įrom the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting story set in meticulously planned Shaker Heights that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. Each thread of the plot comes together without seeming forced. community, the shadows cast by our pasts, and the true meaning of motherhood play out not just in the main story but in a subplot about the contested adoption of a Chinese baby by a Shaker Heights family. Best of all is the story’s multidimensionality. The novel opens with the Richardson home up in flames and the Warrens leaving town-you spend the next 360 pages dying to know how events could possibly lead to that. Ng excels at characterization: She’s juggling a lot of characters here, but each one feels fully realized and relatable. With teenage hormones added to the mix, the situation turns out to be combustible. Mia’s creative energy intrigues the convention-bound Richardson kids even as Elena’s stability and creature-comforts attract Pearl. They rent their bare-bones apartment from the Richardsons and before long the families find themselves intertwined. The "other family," the Warrens-Mia, a footloose artist and single mom to 15-year-old Pearl-have landed in the neighborhood’s most modest home with the hopes that Pearl can take advantage of its top-notch schools after years of contented wandering.Īnd Pearl ends up getting an education, all right, but not exactly the one her mom had in mind. The Richardsons-journalist Elena, attorney Bill, and their four teenage children-thrive in this cosseted suburban splendor, their sprawling, gracious home the embodiment of order and privilege. Beyond that, their circumstances couldn’t be more different. The families live a mile apart in this wealthy planned community with rules governing everything down to the colors of the houses. Set in wealthy Shaker Heights, Ohio, in the 1990s, it’s the story of how two very different families both come together and break apart. This world, this setting, these characters, seem so real and inviting that you give yourself up to them completely-it’s a bit like falling in love.Ĭeleste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere is one of those special books. You know the feeling: with a certain kind of novel, you suspend all disbelief from the get-go.
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