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Paper Palace Audio CD – Unabridged, 6 July 2021
Miranda Cowley Heller (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
THE PAPER PALACE IS:
"Filled with secrets, love, lies and a summer beach house. What more could you ask?"--Parade
"A deeply emotional love story...the unraveling of secrets, lies and a very complex love triangle." --Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club July '21 Pick)
Nail-biting. --Town & Country
"A magnificent page-turner." --Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author
"[An] irresistible placement of a complicated family in a bewitching place." --The New York Times
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 August morning, and Elle, a fifty-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 twenty-four 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.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Publication date6 July 2021
- Dimensions12.85 x 2.9 x 14.88 cm
- ISBN-100593412494
- ISBN-13978-0593412497
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Review
Beguiling.--Vogue, The Best Books to Read This Summer
Nail-biting. --Town & Country
"This one's filled with secrets, love, lies and a summer beach house. What more could you ask?--"Parade, "Best Beach Reads"
"The gorgeous scenery of Back Woods (a stand-in for Wellfleet, Mass.) provides an atmospheric backdrop to Elle's ruminations and revelatory flashbacks."--Los Angeles Times, "10 best books for your summer beach reading"
Ensconced in her family's rustic compound on Cape Cod for an annual summer trip, Elle Bishop is at a crossroads, forced to choose between the two great loves of her life. Should she run off with the longtime bestie she's secretly been in love with since they endured a ghastly childhood trauma together? Or stay with her cherished husband, a dashing Brit who's the father of her kids? --People
"Doubly blessed when it comes to descriptive powers, Heller is as good on nature as she is on interiors."--The New York Times
An assured debut. A sultry tale of Waspish New England that captures the spirit of Updike and Cheever.--The Times (London)
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 bestselling author of The Interestings and The Female Persuasion
"The Paper Palace turned out to be the very page-turner I needed. If you want to learn something about love over a long time--how it can hurt, how it can soar-- read this book."--Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"Miranda Cowley Heller has written a magnificent page-turner, a love story that shimmers with desire, intelligence, and humor. Lush and gorgeously written, The Paper Palace is as intoxicating as a summer night by the sea. I didn't want it to end." --Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of Good Company
It's been ages since I was so absorbed in a contemporary novel. I loved it. --Nick Hornby, New York Timesbestselling author ofJust Like You
"Set in the physical and psychic landscape of Cape Cod, The Paper Palace is a fever dream of a novel, luminous with love and shot through with humor and heartbreak. It is a book that explores the indelibility of childhood, what it means to be shaped by place, and all that is unpredictable about the human heart. I couldn't put it down. --Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game
A beautifully constructed, wonderfully intelligent and beguiling novel, rich with a multitude of pleasures. --William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart
It's glorious and gorgeous. I was absolutely immersed and gripped and I'm devastated to have finished it. --Marian Keyes, author of Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
In rich and sensuous prose, Cowley Heller, cracks open the human heart and exposes her character's choices: the paths not taken and the devastating consequences. I smelled the old cabins and the backwoods, felt the pond water lapping around my ankles, experienced the love and loss of family. A perceptive and powerful story which will stay with me for a long time. --Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
I can't think of a more brilliant debut than The Paper Palace. Enticing, assured and multi-layered, it introduces a major new voice in American fiction . . . A marvel.--Cressida Connolly, auhor of The Happiest Days
Absolutely phenomenal novel - dazzling writing and utterly addictive. Read it.--Rosamund Lupton, New York Times bestselling author of Sister
It felt as if I read The Paper Palace in one go. It was completely immersive, and shocking, and utterly alive. I loved it. --Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina
Beautifully written, richly compelling, The Paper Palace is as dark and uncompromising as it is tender and lyrical. Here is a love triangle that keeps you turning the pages, a vivid evocation of place, and an exploration of the one of the most unsettling of secrets. --Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
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
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Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group; Unabridged edition (6 July 2021)
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 0593412494
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593412497
- Dimensions : 12.85 x 2.9 x 14.88 cm
- Customer Reviews:
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Customer reviews

Top reviews from Australia
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But I found myself hating the main character, hating the writing style (short sentences, jolted…much like the content).
And there were so many moments where I felt shocked, revolted and incredibly confused. (Why on earth is there an alligator as a pet and WHY does it need to be flushed down the toilet???)
I think it needs to come with a trigger warning with so many disturbing scenes throughout it. (Child abuse, rape, drowning)
The kudos I can give this book is that it kept me reading, because I wanted to know how it ended…but I finished the book feeling relieved I didn’t have to live life through (this) Elle’s eyes any longer.
Top reviews from other countries


Too many characters, too much flitting back & forth in time (every section like this lasted a couple of pages that was all then you're back in another time). Then one long chunk that oddly went on too long to set up the great awfulness that has caused all the trouble in this book.
No one was worth caring about not even the main character (despite everything that happened to her), apart from the older sister Anna who is refreshingly herself, and Jonas who doesn't get nearly enough space in the book and was the reason I thought I'd love this book. He's kept far too much in the background, I suppose like a siren call but really the author squandered what might have been a USP for this book. The husband Peter was nauseatingly a stereotype of Hugh Grant - an American's idea of what a posh Brit is like - and actually rude & dismissive. Why stay married to this man? The sex scenes were well described.
The ending was a terrible zero. I get that it was supposed to be mysterious & ambivalent it just felt like an under-cooked roast chicken.
A very episodic read, emotionally & intellectually unsatisfying it was a jumble of good ideas badly executed.
And then there's all the gushing blurbs from authors who are clearly pals - this author is well connected.
Not worth the money, could have been so much better.

Ever since she was a child, "The Paper Palace" had been a place where Elle and her family would spend their holidays. Now married and with children of her own, it is still a place she visits with her family and friends.
Following a rash decision made in the heat of the moment, the story jumps between the past and present, revealing generations of complicated relationships and some questionable, heartbreaking decisions...
OK, so I went in with no expectations and knowing next to nothing about the plot, but I never imagined how invested I'd become in the story. This is compelling, domestic drama at its absolute finest. 👌🏻
One thing that stood out to me was how certain traumatic events can happen to a member of one generation and indirectly affect another. Additionally, without going into too much detail, there were some prime examples of how (in my opinion) parents can fail at protecting their children.
Miranda has nailed everything here from the absolutely stunning imagery to a captivating story. Her writing is fantastic and I just cannot fault it. Put it this way, I loved this book so much I've already ordered a physical copy.
Granted there's some pretty heavy topics I wasn't entirely prepared for, so do be aware of the trigger warnings:
*Some triggers to be aware of in this book are: child abuse, sexual assault, infidelity and non-consensual incest.


💭: Initially I thought this book would solely focus on Elle's inner turmoil, the choice between her devoted husband and the man she has loved since she was a child; which didn't appeal to me. The very short snappy sentences irritated me and the constant switching of timelines and numerous characters confused me a little and I found it hard to get into. That was until I got passed the first section and into the secrets of Elle's past. This book is not lighthearted as I first thought. The topics are disturbing, the characters are unlikeable and the ending unclear.


Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 August 2021
💭: Initially I thought this book would solely focus on Elle's inner turmoil, the choice between her devoted husband and the man she has loved since she was a child; which didn't appeal to me. The very short snappy sentences irritated me and the constant switching of timelines and numerous characters confused me a little and I found it hard to get into. That was until I got passed the first section and into the secrets of Elle's past. This book is not lighthearted as I first thought. The topics are disturbing, the characters are unlikeable and the ending unclear.
