Little Fires Everywhere

In Shaker Heights, everyone was talking about the fact that Isabelle, the youngest Richardson, had finally gone mad and burned the house down…

In Shaker Heights, a calm and respectable town where everything is carefully planned—from street turns and the flowerbeds by the houses to the successful lives of its residents—nothing embodies the town’s spirit more than Mrs. Richardson, the perfect mother and wife. But one day, an artist, Mia Warren, arrives in this kingdom of orderly living. Mrs. Richardson has a gorgeous house; Mia lives in the little “Volkswagen Rabbit.” One has everything but lives inside a cage of rules. The other has nothing but is free as the wind. And yet—how far apart are they, really? Both have teenage children whose fires smolder for a while, and one day the flames will roar out and try to swallow everything around them. The clash of two worlds—order and chaos—will be devastating for both, and at the same time will give rise to a new hope.

Celeste Ng’s new novel is an enthralling story of two families, packed with layers—without a black-and-white division, without heroes and antiheroes. In the book, a complex web is woven from moral principles, feelings, past mistakes, and ambitions. Celeste Ng constantly changes the angle, presenting the story from the perspective of every participant in the drama—so you feel completely immersed in the world she has created. And with the detective-like unpredictability and thriller pace, your head spins.