1 on The New York Times fiction best-seller list, concurrent with the release of a miniseries adaptation of the book.
The previous year, 1997, Elena Richardson rents her rental home on Winslow Road to Mia Warren, an artist, and her teenage daughter, Pearl.
She spends time at the Richardson home every day and develops a crush on Trip, and Mia works part-time at a Chinese restaurant called the Lucky Palace and sells photographs through a dealer named Anita Rees in New York.
When Elena condescendingly offers her a job doing housekeeping for her family, she is hesitant at first but agrees only because she wants to keep an eye on Pearl.
Izzy reveals that the orchestra teacher, Mrs Peters, racially abused a black student, Deja, in class and seeks revenge by jamming toothpicks in the doors at school, blocking access to the toilet.
Mrs Peters then becomes desperate to urinate and ends up soiling her skirt and tights in the girls' toilets, much to everyone else's mirth.
The Richardsons are invited to the birthday party for Mirabelle Rose McCullough, the adopted daughter of Elena's friends, Linda and Mark.
The scandal results in Bebe getting visitation rights and help from an Asian-American lawyer named Edward Lim pro bono.
After the fire, the Richardsons go to the rental home, now vacated by the Warrens, where they find that Mia has left them with photographs that have personal significance to each of them.
Bebe Chow, using Mia's words as inspiration, sneaks into the McCulloughs' home and kidnaps her daughter, flying with her to Canton.
Elena realizes that her greatest fear, losing Izzy, has come true, and vows to spend the rest of her life looking for her daughter.
[3] In an interview for the Los Angeles Review of Books, Ng said, "Many adoptions today are transracial, which raises really complicated questions about how we handle and talk about race—and racial bias—in America.
[10][11] A miniseries adaptation of the novel was executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington for Hulu with an 8-episode order.