Description

The No.1 Sunday Times bestseller from the author of A Little Life.

To Paradise is a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the elusive idea of utopia; driven by Hanya Yanagihara’s understanding of our desire to protect those we love – lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens – and the pain that ensues when we cannot.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love as they please (or so it seems).

In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father.

In 2093, in a world torn apart by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him – and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearance.

What unites these characters, and these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human – fear, love, shame, loneliness – and the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise.

‘I’m not sure I’ve ever missed the world of a book as much’ – Observer
‘Not only rare . . . revolutionary’ – Michael Cunningham
‘Prepare to weep in public and be utterly transformed’ – Stylist

Publisher Review

After the painfully affecting [A Little Life] To Paradise gives us three stories far apart in space and time but each unique in their power to summon the joy and complexity of love, the pain of loss. I'm not sure I've ever missed the world of a book as much as I miss To Paradise now I've left it. * Observer * To Paradise is a transcendent, visionary novel of stunning scope and depth. A novel so layered, so rich, so relevant, so full of the joys and terrors - the pure mystery - of human life, is not only rare, it's revolutionary. -- Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours Hanya Yanagihara's To Paradise is as good as War and Peace -- Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story One of the most anticipated books of 2022 - if not the decade . . . Prepare to weep in public and be utterly transformed. * Stylist * To Paradise becomes unputdownable . . . Amidst the worst travails and political pressures, the primacy of human bonds is irreducible, a truth that lies at the heart of this frightening and very beautiful novel.' * Literary Review * A future classic . . . For those captivated by Yanagihara's A Little Life, her next is equally gripping . . . Ultimately, it asks the question: is love really all we need? * Telegraph * A bravura achievement . . . Behind this impressive, significant novel stands the question: what is a life, if it is not lived in freedom? * Guardian * A very unusual sensibility and a burning subject matter have come together here . . . Highly affecting. Read it and hope not to revisit it in your dreams. * Sunday Times *