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The Paper Palace

The No.1 New York Times Bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Bookclub Pick

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The Paper Palace

Written by: Miranda Cowley Heller
Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
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Buy Now for ₹546.23

Brought to you by Penguin.

2 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2022

A PAGE-TURNING SUMMERTIME READ FOR FANS OF WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING AND LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE

On a perfect August morning, Elle Bishop heads out for a swim in the pond below 'The Paper Palace' - her family's holiday home in Cape Cod. As she dives beneath the water she relives the passionate encounter she had the night before, against the side of the house that knows all her darkest secrets, while her husband and mother chatted to their guests inside...

So begins a story that unfolds over twenty-four hours and fifty years, as Elle's shocking betrayal leads her to a life-changing decision - and an ending you won't be able to stop thinking about.

'A deeply emotional love story that follows one day in the life of Elle Bishop as she navigates the unravelling of secrets, lies and a very complex love triangle' REESE WITHERSPOON

'Glorious and gorgeous. I was absolutely immersed and gripped and I'm devastated to have finished it' MARIAN KEYES

'Here is a love triangle that keeps you turning the pages' Rachel Joyce

'Utterly addictive' Rosamund Lupton

'Dry, sharp and with devastating depths plumbed so elegantly' Pandora Sykes

'Smart, atmospheric and seriously juicy' Stylist

'Earthy, intoxicating, shimmering' Sunday Times

© Miranda Cowley Heller 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction
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Critic Reviews

A deeply emotional love story that follows one day in the life of Elle Bishop as she navigates the unravelling of secrets, lies and a very complex love triangle
It's glorious and gorgeous. I was absolutely immersed and gripped and I'm devastated to have finished it (Marian Keyes)
This accomplished family saga is gripping and poetic, capturing the complexity of the human heart
A family drama, a forbidden love story, a childhood tragedy, The Paper Palace is a stunning literary debut that will eat you up and leave you reeling - you won't want it to end
It's been ages since I was so absorbed in a contemporary novel. I loved it (Nick Hornby)
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)
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 Wife and The Female Persuasion)
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)
Absolutely phenomenal novel - dazzling writing and utterly addictive. Read it (Rosamund Lupton)
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)
All stars
Most relevant
It was too intolerable that he should be worshipping this wife: such weakness in a man is pleasant to no woman but the wife in question. They didn’t care for their kids. The parents were poor comfort to them. I was rather shocked at this mode of taking all life as a holiday.
Their younger daughter, Eleanor Bishop was so pretty, but had been brought up in such thoughtlessness. She was an image of sorrow; like a saint whose loving heart-beat and sobbed after an unattained goodness. Nonetheless, her British husband Peter adored her and their three kids.
Her best friend Jonas was a fine, brilliant fellow with watchful green eyes. There was about him the burnished appearance that actors take on. Elle was his saint! His Idol!
This August, all the deepest fibres of her memory were stirred. When the young Jonas’ voice took a gentler tone when he spoke to her, she was reminded that he was the one whom she had loved. Their love was renewed to her. Instead of centring in their long-recognized secret, they meet slyly among hindrances.

Oh, narcissistic mother, weak father!

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