The #1 New York Times bestseller!Now a Hulu original series starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting.” —Jodi Picoult“To say I love this book is an understatement. It’s a deep psychological mystery about the power of motherhood, the intensity of teenage love, and the danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” —Reese … danger of perfection. It moved me to tears.” —Reese Witherspoon
“Extraordinary . . . books like Little Fires Everywhere don’t come along often.” —John Green
From the bestselling 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 teenaged 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.
Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more…
Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more.
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Excellent writing and a fascinating study of mother-daughter relationships — plus hard to put down. What could be better?
So good! @lisad lent this to me, and it did not disappoint.
I find Ng’s writing style to be accessible, but also very layered. What really drew me in was the characters. Each one felt like someone I’d met before, and Ng does a nice job of seamlessly tying in their back story. I felt like I understood, and believed, the reasons behind their choices.
She’s also really elegant with all of the major and minor plot developments, which she sets up for the first half of the book. I was totally engrossed throughout the entire novel, and would definitely recommend it.
I haven’t enjoyed a novel this much in a while – I really didn’t want it to end. Little Fires Everywhere both super readable and thought-provoking with likeable, well-drawn characters. I loved all the reveals and how the different threads came together. Thanks for the rec, @aleksandra!
This book was incredible. It explores the unexpected bonds that form when two families intersect: a vagabond mother-daughter duo colliding with four lively children from a primly, perfectly-suburban household. Like chemistry, each possible combination results in something different. And sometimes, something explosive.
These relationships are framed by fascinating explorations of art, and race, and family secrets… but the true spark in the story lies with the characters. It was compassionate, beautiful, and all other glowing adjectives I know. Just read it!
I truly enjoyed this story. It is well written, held my interest and once again I learned that the person we present to the world is not necessarily the person they experience. Multi-layered and true-to-life and sometimes empty.
I loved Ng’s first book, Everything I Never Told You, and her new release, Little Fires Everywhere, solidified her as one of my favorite authors.
Ng has this amazing ability to capture a character’s innermost thoughts and motivations without ever writing in first person, and she moves seamlessly through multiple POVs throughout the novel (I counted 8 characters in total, but there may have been a few more). The result is a well-rounded, robust, character-driven story about a wealthy family in Ohio whose world is turned upside down by two newcomers who occupy their rental property. It’s raw and beautiful, and I definitely recommend it!
What a great book for any individual or book club! NYT bestselling author Celeste Ng covers the relationships between different kinds of mothers and daughters including what makes one a fit mother, sibling relationships, artistic expression vs. confirming to well planned community norms, issues of culture and race, and teens navigating the consequences and changes that sexual activity has on themselves and those around them. And there are plenty of well kept secrets to be dug up. I was touched by the interaction between Mia and Pearl and then her interaction with Lexie and Izzy. I knew she must always be unsure of how far to cross that boundary since she wasn’t their mother.
I loved this book for the realistic/interesting setting, the complex characters and the questions it raises about what it means to be a mother. There are a lot of plot lines to follow, but Ng manages to weave them together until she arrives at a satisfying ending. She’s clearly a gifted writer, and one I’d like to emulate!
I read Everything I Never Told You and loved it, Little Fires Everywhere is even better and I loved it more. Celeste Ng is such a wonderful writer and her stories are so readable and relatable and the characters stay true to their natures and the ending is open but satisfying. The trajectory of this story was inevitable and felt completely true to life.
I really liked this book. I think it’s better than Everything I Never Told You, which is also a very good book
A thought-provoking book with characters you won’t forget. Is a middle-class childhood with adoptive, loving parents necessarily superior to a childhood with a a biological mother who is poverty stricken but loves her child?
I loved this book! The characters are realistically drawn and the writing is stark and beautiful. There is a simplicity and elegance to the story that is reflected in the lives of the main characters who are all living (to some degree) ‘lives of quiet desperation.” This is the kind of book you read at the beach and talk about at Thanksgiving dinner.
I was recommended this book by @lisad . It was one of the best books I’ve read all year, I couldn’t put it down. Celeste Ng’s creates many realistic and deep characters, spending time developing each one of them and weaving all their storylines together. At its core, the story is one about motherhood and family politics — what makes a mother or a family? The book is beautiful and I would highly recommend it to everyone.
A fantastic read – part mystery, part journey, part exploration. Poignant moments and characters you’ll think about long after you’ve turned the last page
I was originally attracted to this book because it had exactly the kind of cover I’d wanted for THE RIBS AND THIGH BONES OF DESIRE back in the day AND it featured an artist mother who’s independent to a fault. Ng breaks the contemporary literary mold here with a book that swoops omnisciently in and out of character’s heads to explore the complicated, fraught intersection of motherhood, morality, and art.
After finishing Celeste Ng’s new novel, I’m having trouble letting go of this image of a house being reduced to its foundations. Little Fires begins with a house burning to the ground (it’s in the first sentence, so I’m not spoiling anything). At the beginning of the book, the charred remains of the Richardson home feel tragic. But by the novel’s end, the image blooms with new vitality, becoming a beginning. “After the burning the new soil is richer, and new things can grow.” I actually read this novel before Everything I Never Told You, so I’m not sure how they compare…
Intriguing. I love how she goes into individual characters tangentially. Really insightful regarding human nature. Great book. Not something I would have chose. Wonderfully surprised
There is nothing predictable about Little Fires Everywhere, there was never a dull moment when reading this story. The ending felt sudden and left me with questions. Overall I recommend this book.
Little Fires Everywhere , with its little surprises everywhere, interweaves multiple themes everywhere, none of which are “little.” To name a few: the relative value society places on artistic endeavor and material success, the narcissism and condescension inherent in the philanthropy of the entitled, the dividing forces of provincialism and racism, the tug-of-war between order and chaos in individual personality and society, and the relative importance of blood ties, cultural heritage, and material comfort in parenting. This novel also includes five coming-of-age stories in the five main teenage characters. Too much here? Not in the hands of this author. Any conclusions to be drawn will differ, one reader to the next, because these important issues and themes are presented, not in didactic form, but in the manner we look for in all great fiction, through intuitive, insightful characterization and an engrossing story that makes you think. I enjoyed this book very much, and found it compulsively readable. Highly recommended.
I couldn’t put this book down and will be talking about it for months! A heartfelt family drama…smartly written, powerful and definitely relevant!