Description

One life changing decision: your husband or your one true love?

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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.

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

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Readers have been gripped by THE PAPER PALACE:

***** ‘I devoured this book in a couple of days’

***** ‘I fell in love with the characters’

***** ‘A heart-rending love story filled with so many complications’

Sunday Times Bestseller, September 2022

Publisher Review

A beautifully constructed, wonderfully intelligent and beguiling novel, rich with a multitude of pleasures -- William Boyd It's glorious and gorgeous. I was absolutely immersed and gripped and I'm devastated to have finished it -- Marian Keyes 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 This accomplished family saga is gripping and poetic, capturing the complexity of the human heart * Daily Mirror * 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 A family drama, a forbidden love story, a childhood tragedy, this is a stunning literary debut that will leave you reeling * i * 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 * Independent * 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 The Nest 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 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 Miss Benson's Beetle The writing is full of rich detail, evoking the New England landscape . . . this is an absorbing family saga packed with intrigue and complicated characters that transports you to Cape Cod. I can't wait for the adaptation * Evening Standard * Mesmerising . . . A promising debut from a talent to watch * Good Housekeeping * A deliciously lyrical novel . . . weaving between the dangerous yet excitable now and the years of ungodly traumas passed, this masterful tale of childhood love will wash over you like the refreshing, cold waters of The Paper Palace's nearby lake * BUZZ magazine * [Cowley Heller] brings to fiction an understanding of how to layer storylines, as well as an assured feel for dialogue and visual description . . . a skilful portrait * The Oldie, Book of the Month * The Paper Palace paints a vivid picture of family secrets and tensions, against the backdrop of a sun-soaked summer * Take a Break * Miranda Cowley Heller's debut The Paper Palace . . . finds Elle on the point of leaving her near-perfect family life for the visceral thrill of Jonas, green-eyed soul mate of her youthful vacations. With its atmospheric setting and rich backstory, the denouement is set to be an August talking point and a mini-series is already slated.' * Country and Townhouse * A stirring and sensual story * Woman's Weekly * This accomplished family saga is gripping and poetic, capturing the complexity of the human heart * Daily Mirror * A richly detailed family saga that nods to tales by Johns Cheever and Updike . . . this immersive novel makes for a lushly satisfying read * The Times *