Celeste Ng’s contemporary novel, Little Fires Everywhere, is a haunting story that explores the intertwining lives of the idyllic Richardson family and the people who change their lives forever -- their new tenants, Mia and Pearl. On the outside, the Richardsons are the perfect role model for the placid suburb of Shaker Heights. With four children, Lexie, Trip, Moody, and Izzy, respectable jobs, and a comfortably large house, Elena and Mark Richardson seem to live the ideal lives. Mother-daughter pair Mia and Pearl Warren are much different. Mia, whom Elena refers to as a “struggling” artist, has never held a steady job and has a disregard for sticking to the status quo. Instead, she moves around to different cities every few months, bringing her teenage daughter Pearl along. This time, however, Mia promises Pearl they will stay, and they soon find themselves developing a close relationship with the Richardsons when Pearl befriends Moody on the day they move in. In the beginning, the tension between Mia and Elena, mothers with completely opposing philosophies, is a barely detectable simmer beneath the surface. But when a custody battle emerges between old family friends of the Richardsons and the biological mother of the Chinese baby they hope to adopt, it erupts in a bitter feud that will uproot painful secrets and forever destroy the picturesque normality of Shaker Heights. Little Fires Everywhere is a powerful, albeit slow-moving tale about motherhood, privilege, conformity, and the precarious rules society sets. I would recommend it to anyone.