Little Fires Everywhere

Celeste Ng's 2017 novel, Little Fires Everywhere, is set in the seemingly perfect, planned community of Shaker Heights, Ohio, in the 1990s. The story centers on two families: the affluent, rule-following Richardsons and the enigmatic mother-daughter duo, Mia and Pearl Warren, an artist and her teenager, who rent a house from the Richardsons. Their lives become intertwined through their children and a controversial custody battle involving a baby left at a fire station. The novel explores themes of motherhood, identity, secrets, and the danger of believing that following the rules can prevent disaster, all set against the backdrop of an arson that destroys the Richardson home.