This time, it’s different: Mia has sworn they’re staying in Shaker Heights for good.įor a fleeting moment Pearl glimpses a normal fifteen-year-old adolescence: she finds acceptance with Lexie, Moody, and Trip. For the first time in her life she feels it’s safe to do so: her mother, Mia, is a travelling artist, prone to uprooting their lives and disappearing to a new town whenever the creative urge hits her. Pearl has an instant connection with young Moody Richardson. But Shaker Heights isn’t your usual neighbourhood. When they first arrived, nobody thought much of them. The Richardsons are perplexed by their daughter’s sudden psychotic decision to destroy the family home, and so the story begins with a rush to put out the flames and then an equally panicked search for Izzy, the arsonist.Įnter Mia and Pearl, single mother and only daughter duo, who not that long ago moved into a little rental home on Winslow Road.

Oh, and talk about killer opening lines: ‘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.’ But memorable in their believability, their realness and relatability. Her micro-universe is drenched with conflict and drama, and each character is memorable, not in the traditional sense of being outlandish, provocative, and “unforgettable” in their loudness. There’s a hypnotic energy to Celeste Ng’s writing that picks you up on the first page and carries you at a sprint to the end.

Little fire everywhere book