A family tale with burning issues PICK OF THE WEEK

A classy adaptation of the best-selling novel about family secrets, motherhood and race, co-produced by and starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. The first episode opens with the well-to-do but uptight Elena Richardson’s (Witherspoon, right) mansion ablaze: it’s arson – in fact, given that Elena was inside at the time, it could even be attempted murder. Everyone seems to think her teenage daughter Izzy, the youngest of her four children, has a few questions to answer but, as we quickly learn, there are other possibilities. Such as enigmatic, free-spirited artist Mia Warren (Washington) and her teen daughter, who have recently arrived in Shaker Heights and in Elena’s life. Just why do they pack up and move to a new town every few months?