GOODREADS BLURB

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.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours 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 teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia’s.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak.

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I read Little Fires Everywhere in anticipation of the Hulu series coming out on March 19, with Reese Witherspoon in it. And since I’d watch ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING starring her, I just had to read this one so I can dive right into the series once it’s out.

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The picture-perfect town of Shaker Heights has been divided in opinions by a custody battle for a Chinese baby. Abandoned by her biological mother, Bebe, who herself was in a desperate situation and could not support her, she is adopted by the wealthy McCullough family. Once Bebe is back on her feet and finally finds her baby, a legal battle over the rightful parent of 1 year old May Ling/Mirabelle ensues.

At the core of the book lies one question – What makes someone a mother? Is it biology alone, or is it love? Every mother means well and would gladly give up anything for their child, but that doesn’t mean they always get it right.

The protagonists of the story, Mia and Elena, are two different types of people. Mia is a single mom and artist who lives on the road, while Elena has a perfect suburban family with a big house and 4 children. As there lives get hopelessly entangled and they find themselves champions for opposing sides of the case, the focus remains on the lengths a mother would go to to protect her child.

Even though this was quite a slow book compared to the books I usually read, I’m glad I read it to the end. There’s something poetic and almost hauntingly beautiful about every person’s story in this book. I found myself repeatedly trying to place myself in each character’s shoes and wonder about their choices, and almost always found myself baffled. There is always good and bad in the world, and in most books a character can be classified into either category. Little Fires Everywhere, however, perfectly showed real life where everyone existed in a grey area. After all there are always two sides to a story.

From complex characters, to beautiful writing and an intriguing plot, Little Fires Everywhere has immediately made its way into my all-time-favorites and gets 5 stars from me.

Also, has anyone seen the trailer? CAN. NOT. WAIT.