“Most of the time, everyone deserves more than one chance. We all do things we regret now and then. You just have to carry them with you.”
Celeste Ng whisks readers to the small, progressive Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights in her 2017 book Little Fires Everywhere. From the winding roads to the colours of the houses, everything in this neighbourhood is meticulously planned. And no one embodies this better than Elena Richardson. The story follows single mother Mia Warren and her daughter, Pearl, who both quickly draw the attention of the Richardsons. But, when old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle soon erupts that threatens to split Shaker Heights in half, with Mia and Elena on opposite sides. Suspicious, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets of Mia’s past. Her obsession, however, comes at a devastating and unexpected cost. If you love small-town secrets, family dynamics and explorations of identity, community and belonging, join us today at What We Reading for the best books like Little Fires Everywhere!
Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng
Kicking off our list of books like Little Fires Everywhere is Celeste Ng’s gripping debut novel, Everything I Never Told You. Set in a small Ohio town in the 1970s, it follows a Chinese American family. Lydia is Marilyn and James Lee’s favourite child, and they are determined that she will live the dreams they were unable to. But, when Lydia’s body is discovered in a local lake, the delicate balance in the Lee family household is finally snapped, leading to all of its members spiralling into chaos.
What follows is an intense story of family, secrets and longing. Sensitive and poignant, it is an intimate portrait of how fathers and sons, mothers and daughters and husband and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
Check Out The Best Books Like Everything I Never Told You
On Beauty – Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith’s On Beauty follows the story of an interracial family living in Wellington, Massachusetts. The three children of the house all take very different paths in life. Levi embraces authentic blackness. Zora searches for redemption in everyone. Jerome struggles as the sole believer in an atheist family.
When Jerome falls for the daughter of a right-wing celebrity, a cultural and personal feud begins. If you loved the dynamics between Mia and Elena in Little Fires Everywhere and looking for a read that explores similar themes, On Beauty needs to be on your TBR list! Packed full of wit and humour, it is a sharp and striking commentary on political correctness and family life.
Saint X – Alexis Sachaitkin
Claire is just seven years old when her college-aged sister, Alison, vanishes during a family vacation on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Days later, Alison’s body is found in a remote spot and two local employees at the resort are arrested. But the evidence is flimsy, the pair are released and the story is catapulted to the tabloid headlines. For Claire and her parents, all that’s left is to return home to their now-shattered lives.
Years later, Claire is working in New York City when a chance encounter brings her in front of Clive Richardson, one of the men suspected of murdering her sister. Prompted by this one moment, Claire embarks on an obsessive quest for the truth. Not just to work out what happened on the night of Alison’s death, but also to who her sister truly was. One of the best books like Little Fires Everywhere, Alexis Sachaitkin’s Saint X pulls together themes of grief, obsession and privilege for a magical escapist read.
Happiness Falls – Angie Kim
Mia, a hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an answer for everything. Which is why, when her father and younger brother, Eugene, don’t return from a walk in a nearby park, she doesn’t panic. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for a nearby errand. However, when Eugene finally returns, bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father of this close-knit Korean-American family is missing.
What follows is an intense ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally layered portrait of a family whose deepest secrets may be at the heart of his disappearance. Another book like Little Fires Everywhere that asks fascinating questions of race, identity and family, Angie Kim’s Happiness Falls is beautifully written and poignant in its messages.
Commonwealth – Ann Patchett
One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins arrives at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before the end of the night, he kisses Franny’s mother, Beverley. In a moment, he kickstarts the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth is a story that spans five decades and explores how this one chance encounter echoes through the lives of four parents and six children involved.
Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keatings and Cousins children build a lasting bond that is honed around disillusionment with their parents and the genuine appreciation that blossoms around them. Similar to Little Fires Everywhere, Commonwealth delves into the inspiration and ownership of stories and is a tender tale of love and responsibility that bind us together.
Gold Diggers – Sanjena Sathian
Neil Narayan is a second-generation teenager growing up in the Atlanta suburbs during the Bush era. His perfect older sister is heading to Duke, and his parents’ expectations of him are just as lofty. Whilst he wants this version of success, he is far more interested in his neighbour across the cul-de-sac, Anita Dayal. Only, Anita and her mother, Anjali are harbouring their own secret involving an ancient alchemical potion made from stolen gold. When Neil joins the plot, events spiral into a tragedy that rips this community apart.
Ten years on, Neil is a history grad student studying the California gold rush. He reunites with Anita and the pair resurrect their gold-stealing glory days. Only, this time, the stakes are much higher. Anita’s mother is in trouble, only gold can save her, which means one last heist is on the cards. Similar to Little Fires Everywhere, Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers is an exploration of identity, coming-of-age and class in a small-town American setting.
Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane
Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, two rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. Born just six months apart from one another, what happens behind closed doors, be it the loneliness of Francis’ wife, Lena, or the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, eventually sets the stage for explosive events to come. One shocking night, the pair’s loyalties are torn and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years.
Like Little Fires Everywhere, Ask Again, Yes is a moving book about two families, the bond between their children, the daily intimacies and hurdles of marriage and a single tragedy that continues to ripple across a neighbourhood for decades.
The Wangs Vs. The World – Jade Chang
For those readers looking for a book similar to Little Fires Everywhere that deals more laughs than tragedy, Jade Chang’s The Wangs vs. the World is a must-read. Chang’s debut novel introduces the Changs, a wealthy Chinese immigrant family led by Charles, a man whose successful cosmetics business allowed him and his family to move into a house in the affluent Bel-Air area. Only to have every last cent ripped from him during the 2008 financial crisis.
Now all Charles wants to do is get his family safely stowed away so that he can go to China, reclaim his ancestral lands and restore his pride. With his comedian son, Andrew, his self-obsessed daughter, Grace, and his wife, Barbara, the family embark on a road trip from Bel-Air to the upstate hideout of their eldest daughter, Saina, in upstate New York. Hilarious, whimsical and full of charm, The Wangs vs. the World is a fresh look at belonging in America.
Such A Fun Age – Kiley Reid
Alix Chamberlain is a woman who is used to getting what she wants. And, with her confidence-driven brand, she has made a career teaching other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted by security whilst watching the Chamberlains’ toddler in a high-end supermarket. The security guard, seeing a young black woman with a white baby, believes that Emira has kidnapped little Briar. Crowds gather, bystanders film and Emira is left both humiliated and angry. Alix is determined to put things right.
Emira is aimless, broke and suspicious of Alix’s willingness to help. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women suddenly find themselves on a collision course that completely flips everything they thought they knew about each other, and themselves. Like Little Fires Everywhere, Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age is a striking social commentary on transactional relationships and what it means to make someone family.
The Mothers – Brit Bennett
It’s the last season of high school for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken seventeen-year-old. Grieving her mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is a twenty-year-old former football prodigy who has been reduced to waiting tables after an injury. The pair are young, their relationship isn’t anything serious. Until the pregnancy – and its subsequent cover-up – leaves an imprint that reverberates long after their youth.
As Nadia hides her secret from everyone in her life, including her god-fearing best friend, Aubrey, the years continue to trickle through. Soon, Nadia, Aubrey and Luke are adults finding themselves navigating their tricky love triangle and the debts of the decisions they made one seaside summer. Delivered in enchanting lyrical prose, Brit Bennett’s The Mothers is a book like Little Fires Everywhere that explores the power of ‘what if’ and how decisions by our younger selves and the communities around us shape our lives.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
