The Paper Palace Audiobook By Miranda Cowley Heller cover art

The Paper Palace

A Novel

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The Paper Palace

By: Miranda Cowley Heller
Narrated by: Nan McNamara
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About this listen

Reese's Book Club Pick

“A magnificent page-turner...as intoxicating as a summer night by the sea.” (Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times best-selling author of Good Company)

"It's been ages since I was so absorbed in a contemporary novel. I loved it." (Nick Hornby, New York Times best-selling author of Just Like You)

"A soulful debut that plumbs the depths of a midlife Sophie’s Choice." (People)

A story of summer, secrets, love, and lies: in the course of a singular day on Cape Cod, one woman must make a life-changing decision that has been brewing for decades.

“This house, this place, knows all my secrets.”

It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a 50-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” - the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: Last night Elle and her oldest friend, Jonas, crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next 24 hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn’t forever changed the course of their lives. As Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day, we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity. Tender yet devastating, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes and misdemeanors of families.

©2021 Miranda Cowley Heller (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Family Life Fiction Summer Tearjerking Feel-Good
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Critic reviews

"Captivating debut...full of lush atmospheric details. This will keep the reader guessing all the way to the end.” (Publishers Weekly)

“The moody and atmospheric setting of the shadowy paths and ponds of the Back Woods is described in lush detail that makes a sharp contrast to the colder, sharper elements of Elle’s story.... From the first pages of her debut novel, Heller pulls no punches. Some of them just sneak up on you later on.” (Kirkus)

"Tightly woven and immediate, The Paper Palace takes us deep into a vivid summer landscape, a family, and a private, longstanding love story, and holds us there from start to finish." (Meg Wolitzer, New York Times best-selling author of The Interestings and The Female Persuasion)