Author Description

Little Fires Everywhere Summary and Study GuideLittle Fires Everywhere is a New York Times bestselling novel by Celeste Ng published in 2017. In the town of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Elena Richardson rents her family's property on Winslow Road to Mia and Pearl Warren, a mother and daughter duo who inspire her sense of charity. Mia is an artist, and her lack of rootedness and intense focus on her art unnerve Mrs. Richardson, who lives an orderly life. Their lives become further enmeshed when Pearl befriends Moody, Mrs. Richardson's son, and eventually the rest of the Richardsons. As Pearl begins to adopt new teenager habits through her interactions with the Richardsons, Mia grows concerned and agrees to take on a part-time housekeeping job with the family to keep an eye on her daughter.Meanwhile, the town is swept into the controversy over the adoption of Mirabelle, or May Ling, a baby abandoned by Mia's Chinese coworker, Bebe, during a bout of postpartum depressive shock after her husband left her. A family in Shaker Heights, the McCulloughs, adopted Bebe's child after being unable to have children of their own. Bebe confides in Mia about her missing child, expressing a desire to find her again. When Mia hears that the McCulloughs adopted a Chinese baby around the same time that Bebe left her child at the firehouse, she realizes that Mirabelle must be Bebe's baby, May Ling. When Bebe unsuccessfully tries to get in contact with the McCulloughs to see her baby, Mia intervenes by helping her tell her story to local news channels. With such public uproar over the issue, the custody battle goes into trial.