Ng follows up the uber-best-booked, New York Times best-selling Everything I Never Told You with a story set in classy Shaker Heights, OH, where the diamond-perfect Richardson family are upended by the arrival of single-mom artist Mia Warren and her teenage daughter, to whom they rent a house. When friends attempt to adopt a Chinese American baby, all hell breaks lose. With a national tour.

The morning after Mia and daughter Pearl return the rental key in the Richardsons' mailbox, the youngest Richardson, Izzy, sets "little fires everywhere," destroying the family home. Following her magnificent debut, Everything I Never Told You, Ng's spectacular sophomore work again manipulates time (revealing the implosions backward) and perspectives (privileging the reader through multiple narrators). In Shaker Heights, OH, a pristine suburb where "there were rules, many rules," wealthy wife and mother of four Elena Richardson writes "terribly nice" articles for the local paper. Her tenants, Mia and Pearl, nomads who finally plan to "stay put," are soon integrated into the Richardsons' sprawling lives: teenager Pearl becomes like a fifth child, artist Mia something more than a part-time housekeeper. When Elena's close friend adopts an abandoned Chinese baby whose birth mother's return causes a community rift over custody, Elena and Mia find themselves on polarizing sides. "Everything…beautiful and perfect on the outside" crumbles, observes Izzy, the family's barometer of truth about identity, parent/child bonds, and most of all, love. The consequences will be devastating and illuminating. VERDICT Shaker Heights native Ng writes what she knows into a magnificent, multilayered epic that's perfect for eager readers and destined for major award lists. [See Prepub Alert, 3/27/17.]—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Ng's engrossing sophomore novel explores, in gorgeous prose, themes of class, racial identity, and motherhood. An omniscient narrator slowly reveals the characters who inhabit Ng's real-life hometown of Shaker Heights, OH, a planned community near Cleveland, whose genuinely well-intentioned residents are not shy about proclaiming how socially progressive they are. The wealthy Richardson family embodies the Shaker Heights ideal. Elena Richardson abandoned her dream of being a serious journalist (she now writes puff pieces for the community paper) because that's what she thought she should do to create a well-ordered world for her four children and attorney husband. Her comfortable suburban utopia is threatened, however, when Mia, a free-spirited artist, and her teenage daughter, Pearl, settle into the Richardson's rental property after years of drifting around the country. After Pearl is befriended by the Richardson children, Elena offers Mia a job as their housekeeper under the guise of "helping" this single mom, but she really wants to learn more about the mysterious outsiders. The gloves come off, however, when Elena learns of Mia's role in an ugly custody battle that is dividing her beloved community and cracking its idealistic veneer. Jennifer Lim gracefully and authentically acts as Ng's omniscient narrator, hopping around town, divulging characters' secrets but also evoking empathy for these characters who are just trying to do what they think is right. VERDICT Well suited for audio, Ng's gem will please fans and captivate listeners new to her work. ["A magnificent, multilayered epic that's perfect for eager readers": LJ 6/1/17 starred review of the Penguin Pr. hc.]—Beth Farrell, Cleveland State Univ. Law Lib.

This novel from Ng (Everything I Never Told You) is both an intricate and captivating portrait of an eerily perfect suburban town with its dark undertones not-quite-hidden from view and a powerful and suspenseful novel about motherhood. When the eccentric and itinerant artist Mia Warren and her 15-year-old daughter, Pearl, move into a rental house in Shaker Heights, Ohio, one summer, neither they nor their more conventional, affluent landlords, the Richardsons, have any reason to anticipate how dangerously enmeshed the two families will become. Before long, Pearl, enthralled by her first shot at a "normal" life, is spending every day with three of the four Richardson children, Lexie, Moody, and Trip, finding a best friend, a suitor, and a lover in turn. Meanwhile, Isabelle, the youngest Richardson teenager, starts heading over to see Mia, offering to work as her assistant but really looking for an escape. As both Mrs. Richardson and Mia Warren overstep their boundaries, Ng explores the complexities of adoption, surrogacy, abortion, privacy, and class, questioning all the while who earns, who claims, and who loses the right to be called a mother. This is an impressive accomplishment. Agent: Julie Barer, the Book Group. (Sept.)

Shaker Heights, a wealthy suburb of Cleveland, is home to the mostly content Richardson family of six. Mia, an artist, and her teenage daughter, Pearl, decide to settle down and rent an apartment from the family. Pearl bonds with the Richardson teens, and life seems idyllic until a custody battle erupts. Elena Richardson's friend is adopting a baby whose biological mother, a friend of Mia's, regrets her decision to abandon the child. Ng sensitively examines adoption, privilege, and race as the well-off white couple and the child's biological mother, a Chinese immigrant who initially gave up the child out of financial necessity, fight for parental rights. Through Mia, the author also explores the sacrifices that artists must make and the tension between passion and parenthood. An unwanted teen pregnancy and long-held secrets add to the impact of this emotional story peopled by sympathetic characters. VERDICT For fans of thought-provoking literary works, especially those who enjoyed Ng's first novel, Everything I Never Told You.—Karlan Sick, formerly at New York Public Library