Little Fires Everywhere: A Novel
The #1 New York Times bestseller • Named a Best Book of the Year by People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Goodreads, and more
“To say I love this book is an understatement. . . . It moved me to tears.” —Reese Witherspoon
“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting.” —Jodi Picoult
From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Our Missing Hearts comes 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.
“To say I love this book is an understatement. . . . It moved me to tears.” —Reese Witherspoon
“I read Little Fires Everywhere in a single, breathless sitting.” —Jodi Picoult
From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Our Missing Hearts comes 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.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *Little Fires Everywhere* is a well-written, absorbing novel about two contrasting families whose lives intertwine, exploring motherhood, ...
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 loved this book. It's so well-written and so character driven. The connection the reader feels with both Mia and Pearl and then the Richardson family is unparalleled in any novel. The brilliance of Ng to make you love and hate and then love again both families and their quirky idiosyncrasies is a tribute to the authors.
Mia is the nomad we'd all love to be - moving from place to place creating a substantially insubstantial life for her daughter Pearl. But, there is love there, true and absolute, and within the love you can feel something lurking just beneath the surface of their perfectly concocted life.
The Richardson's - the family we'd all love to hate, but then you get to know them - the working mother, the caring albeit somewhat aloof father, and the four children that balance each other so well. The depth of emotion I felt within this family, and especially as they bring Pearl into their world, broke my heart. They are so very real.
I think that's what is so amazing about this novel - it's just so very real. There is nothing cliche or trite about the lives of the characters. Ng has taken the American family and told them as they are. Their flaws and weaknesses exposed for the whole world to see and it's so very wonderful.
This a complex and incisive look at small town life, and what happens when the harmony of the expected is shaken by the smallest tremor. The image of the perfect mother: jolted. The image of a not-so-perfect mother: rattled. The image of a perfect family: agitated. The image of a not-so-perfect family: swayed. Ng has created a piercing look at perceived American culture, and subsequently split it wide open.
I highly recommend. A full
Mia is the nomad we'd all love to be - moving from place to place creating a substantially insubstantial life for her daughter Pearl. But, there is love there, true and absolute, and within the love you can feel something lurking just beneath the surface of their perfectly concocted life.
The Richardson's - the family we'd all love to hate, but then you get to know them - the working mother, the caring albeit somewhat aloof father, and the four children that balance each other so well. The depth of emotion I felt within this family, and especially as they bring Pearl into their world, broke my heart. They are so very real.
I think that's what is so amazing about this novel - it's just so very real. There is nothing cliche or trite about the lives of the characters. Ng has taken the American family and told them as they are. Their flaws and weaknesses exposed for the whole world to see and it's so very wonderful.
This a complex and incisive look at small town life, and what happens when the harmony of the expected is shaken by the smallest tremor. The image of the perfect mother: jolted. The image of a not-so-perfect mother: rattled. The image of a perfect family: agitated. The image of a not-so-perfect family: swayed. Ng has created a piercing look at perceived American culture, and subsequently split it wide open.
I highly recommend. A full
I was testing out how my new Kobo accessed library ebooks and gave this a try. It's a complicated and powerful story about various aspects of mother-daughter relationships as well as the way an idyllic affluent life can feel less free than an itinerate artist life. I hope Izzy catches up to Mia!
thenextgoodbook.com
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
336 pages
What’s it about?
When the Richardson family of Shaker Heights, Ohio meets Mia Warren and her 15-year-old daughter Pearl- all their lives change dramatically. The Richardson’s have always lived a life of comfort and privilege- that is until Mia arrives. Mia is an artist whose way of life is completely opposite of the Richardsons. The contrast of the two families is very illuminating!
What did it make me think about?
As many good novels do- this book makes you think about what actually makes a family. Is it genetics? Is it love? Is it culture? No easy answers in this book.
Should I read it?
If I had just received a gift card for the holidays then I might splurge on this novel. I must admit to starting this book at the same time I picked up an 8 week-old puppy so I had to read it in little bits. Usually this is the kiss of death for a book. Somehow this novel survived, and more importantly it made me think. What an interesting book this was to read over the holidays!
Quote-
“The girls he’s grown up with in Shaker- and the boys, too, for that matter- seemed so purposeful: they were so ambitious; they were so confidant; they were so certain about everything. They were, he thought, a little like his sisters, and his mother: so convinced there was a right and a wrong to everything, so positive that they knew one from the other. Pearl was smarter than any of them and yet she seemed comfortable with everything she didn’t know: she lingered comfortably in the gray spaces.”
If you Like this try-
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeymii
*Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
*And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
336 pages
What’s it about?
When the Richardson family of Shaker Heights, Ohio meets Mia Warren and her 15-year-old daughter Pearl- all their lives change dramatically. The Richardson’s have always lived a life of comfort and privilege- that is until Mia arrives. Mia is an artist whose way of life is completely opposite of the Richardsons. The contrast of the two families is very illuminating!
What did it make me think about?
As many good novels do- this book makes you think about what actually makes a family. Is it genetics? Is it love? Is it culture? No easy answers in this book.
Should I read it?
If I had just received a gift card for the holidays then I might splurge on this novel. I must admit to starting this book at the same time I picked up an 8 week-old puppy so I had to read it in little bits. Usually this is the kiss of death for a book. Somehow this novel survived, and more importantly it made me think. What an interesting book this was to read over the holidays!
Quote-
“The girls he’s grown up with in Shaker- and the boys, too, for that matter- seemed so purposeful: they were so ambitious; they were so confidant; they were so certain about everything. They were, he thought, a little like his sisters, and his mother: so convinced there was a right and a wrong to everything, so positive that they knew one from the other. Pearl was smarter than any of them and yet she seemed comfortable with everything she didn’t know: she lingered comfortably in the gray spaces.”
If you Like this try-
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeymii
*Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
*And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Incredibly well written, compelling, and I like how nothing was wrapped up in a bow at the end. The little details about Mia and her brother, like secret phrases, made the characters seem so real.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.