“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.”
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and so begins Celeste Ng’s novel Little Fires Everywhere. Ng has set her novel in 1978 in her own hometown of Shaker Heights, one of the first planned communities in the U.S. founded on utopian principles, even planning for diversity.
The story revolves around three family units: the Richardsons, a two income family with four teenagers, two boys and two girls; the Warrens, Mia and Pearl; and the McCulloughs, a wealthy childless couple yearning for a baby.
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.
Mia and fifteen year old Pearl are nomads moving from town to town as Mia, a talented photographer/artist searches for new sources of inspiration. She makes just enough to feed and clothe herself and her daughter, Pearl.
As the story progresses, Mia and Pearl’s lives become entangled with the Richardsons. Mia works for them and is a calm influence on the Richardson daughters and Pearl becomes close to the sons. As much as Mrs. Elena Richardson always tries to do the right thing, it’s Mia who stands up for a young mother trying to keep her child from being adopted by Elena’s friends the McCulloughs. In return Elena is determined to discover Mia’s mysterious background.
There is so much to this novel. Ng said that she wanted “to explore how we justify making selfish choices” and “do our pasts determine what we deserve in the future?” And who deserves to be a mother?
If you’re looking for an engrossing, well written novel that will cause you to think about what you believe, then you must read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.
