The Paper Palace is a summer home that Elle has visited for most of her life. Elle, her husband, children and mother as well as her best friend and his wife are all enjoying the summer; however, Elle has sex with her best friend Jonas while her family remain unaware of what has just happened.

The characters and writing were beautiful and I was captivated by the drama that was unfolding. The parallel stories of the present and past of Elle's history unfolding was gripping and I had to finish the book as quickly as possible in order to discover what was going to happen.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Penguin UK/Viking, and the author Miranda Cowley Heller.
Well, wow. I didn't want this book to end. It is one of the most incredibly written, involving, and engaging stories I have read for a long time. It is told so vividly that you can't help but get completely swept up in the story, incredibly invested in the characters and the heartbreak.
Miranda Cowley Heller is an astounding storyteller and I look forward to reading more of her work. 5 stars without a doubt.

The Paper Palace was honestly a fabulous book to read. I loved it from start to finish. The intimate relationship between two loves, your first love and the love you marry. At moments it was heart wrenching and within a few pages heartwarming.
Cowley Heller examines not only those romantic relationships but intimately displays the cracks within familial relationship; sisters, mother and daughter, father and daughter. She provides an insight to how those relationships mould you as a person and how they influence decisions you make. The Paper Palace was utterly wonderful and would highly recommend it to anyone. Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead books for the chance to read The Paper Palace in exchange for my honest review.

A haunting story through the eyes and mouth of a young child as she tries to figure out and make sense of the various issues and situations she finds herself in. Complicated by an unreliable father , who loves his children but litters their childhood with stepmothers, step siblings, broken promises and an inability to give any stability to their lives. An exotic mother who desperately needs the attention, sexual fulfilment, and constant presence of her much loved wayward husband to the detriment of her children. A serious of dysfunctional step families learning to live together with our young protagonist , Elle, fearful of damaging the status quo by shedding light on, and inability to articulate acts of abuse within the home. Various individuals move in and out the storyline, impacting and influencing her actions and inability to move with any confidence into adulthood. Beautifully written, often more like poetry, she is haunted by past events and a previous love, unable to settle into a safe haven within a steady partnership. Choices and decisions need to be made towards resolving an unenviable situation that forms a most unexpected and satisfactory conclusion to this distinctive and impressive book. Many thanks to author, publisher, and NetGalley for this thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking book.

Oh wow... this could be my favourite book of the year so far!

Taking place over 24 hours and five decades simultaneously via flashbacks, this is an extraordinary exploration of snapshots; moments and decisions both big and small that culminated in a passionate encounter between Elle and her oldest friend Jonas, outside a cabin while their families and spouses socialised inside.

A book romanticising an affair is normally something that would send me running, but this was just so well-written that I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put it down.

Set largely in an old summer camp on Cape Cod — but with moments in other places too — the sense of location painted here by Miranda Cowley Heller is wonderful. It's nostalgic and whimsical while also being dark and holding secrets.

Although there is a strong narrative driving the story, it is really a character exploration primarily. And what characters there are to work with. No one defines the term "complicated character" like Elle's mother, who I found absolutely fascinating. She's nasty, she's tender, she's funny, she's contradictory, and as a result she felt incredibly real. Every character has light and dark sides — subtle ones often, and those dark sides make this a heavy read at times.

The various family dynamics created by these characters, between several generations, make for a really interesting read. While the narrative and politics presented are different, this creation of realistic and gripping family dynamics — with a clear understanding of what drives people — reminded me at times of Celeste Ng's work.

The ending seems ambiguous at first, but after coming back to it after a few minutes to reread it, I think the author's intentions are there, if a little hidden. A part of me is still itching for more, but really it was the perfect place to end the story.

Varying at times between genres such as romance, literary fiction, mystery, women's fiction, and others, this one is definitely on my recommended list and one that I know I'll be thinking about for a long time.

content warning: sexual abuse

Really enjoyed this story, all the characters were so well described and along with the setting, the words just jumped out of the page. The moves between time periods worked really well. Some very deep issues tackled which some readers may struggle with but I felt they were dealt with in a very subtle and heartfelt way.
I really didn’t want this book to end, I haven’t felt that in a book I’ve yet to read this year. I would very much recommend to reading groups

The Paper Palace is a wonderful, dreamy escape into a world of woodland summers, long-lost love and childhood adventures, combined with dark secrets and forbidden fruit. Ideal for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing, Annie Proulx and Anne Tyler.

This. Book. A masterpiece, deserving of every accolade. Atmospheric, and oozing intrigue, but at its core such an emotional journey. A book to savor and to reread and to press into the hands of everyone you know. If I could give it more than five stars I would.

I save my 5 star rating for books that I can't put down and continue to replay in my head way after the last page. The Paper Palace delivers. The story is set in the beautifully and clearly loved, Cape Cod. Elle adores her husband her has given her decades of love and security and yet we know the previous evening she cheated on him with someone that she has loved and desired since childhood. The situation is complicated and her decision multi-layered, with the story alternating between the immediate present 24 hours and a traumatic past history spanning decades.

The story on its own is intricate and shocking, but layer on top fluid, beautiful descriptions and detailed, perceptively described characters, and we have a masterpiece that I couldn't put down. The characters felt so real, as if fashioned from existing personalities, and could be partly attributed to brilliant, authentic and unpredictable dialogue. The switching back and forward in time also worked, and rather than be confusing, tantalizes. Would have loved just one more chapter ...

I found this book a little slow to start with, however as i began to get to know the characters and the pace picked up, I started to really enjoy it. I found it hard at times though, keeping up with Elles parents, who was now with whom but I liked how it was told in past and present and the story of love lost kept me gripped until the end. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this early proof.

This book really does live up to the hype. I found it slow to start with, but then as soon as it connected, I couldn't stop reading. Absolutely gorgeous.

Wow fantastic and utterly beautiful book. I loved how it tells the story of lost young love and how overtime you can get tempted back but is it worth all the pain and heartbreak. Also I found the family dynamics disturbing and compelling. The mother horrified me and I found the main character at times unlikeable but I still loved the story. This is one to make you think and think again.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for ARC.

Ellie Bishop is on holiday with her extended family and close friends in the place the family have been coming to every summer in living memory. We meet her the morning after a friendly, boozy dinner in which something has happened to unlock memories of the past. The narrative unfolds over the next 24 hours and the last 50 years, each beautiful sentence lulling us into believing it's safe before the secrets come tumbling out like the mouse droppings from the ceiling.
This was a gorgeous, atmospheric novel about love and intergenerational trauma, about secrets and lies of omission, about families and the damage they do, anchored by a strong sense of place.
I would have liked a little more elaboration of one of the more opaque threads of the novel - the source and persistence of intergenerational wealth is never discussed - but when I allowed my working class shoulders to relax, I got caught up in the rhythms of this woman's life and inner monologue.

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller is the tale of Elle, looking back on her life, the day after having sex with her best friend for the first time.  She has a husband, children, and Jonas has a wife, but still she's not sure what she should do.

This is a heartbreaking, but has beautiful moments in it.  I was swept along by the story, the tales of the family, and how it had gotten to this point.  

The Paper Palace has been chosen by Reese Witherspoon's bookclub, and is a great and moving read.

 The Paper Palace  was published on 8th July 2021 and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

You can follow Miranda Cowley Heller on  Instagram .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, and so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Penguin Viking .

Trigger warning;: sex, rape, incest

An intoxicating read - the language is just exquisite, encapsulating the beauty of the natural surroundings. The story takes place over the course of a perfect July day, but is intertwined with references to the past that fill in the backstop. Elle, a 50yr old, happily married , mother of 3, is back with her family at The Paper Palace, the family summer residence where she spent the summers of her youth. Elle has awakened the morning after sleeping with her childhood love Jonas, whilst their spouses chatted indoors ( their youthful love was thwarted by tragedy). Elle now battles with a choice between past and present loves. It is not simple, as other complexities - heart-rending and devastating come into play. This is a tender story rich in sensuous prose, breaking open inner turmoil and exploring human hearts - the choices we make and the consequences of those decisions. It is fuelled by love and loss. A powerful story that will linger long after you finish turning the pages.

This was a slow burning book which got better and better, there were some very hard storylines within it which were painful to read but it gave the main character so much depth.

I enjoyed reading her story.

Thank you for letting me review this book

Every summer since she was a child, Elle and her family have visited The Paper Palace in the glorious setting of Cape Cod. Although she is a happily married mother of three in her fifties, last night Elle had sex with her oldest friend Jonas wihle their spouses were just the other side of the wall. Now, Elle needs to decide which path the rest of her life will take. This might be the best example of how to write a love triangle I’ve ever read. The characters are very real, flawed humans and I fully believed in them as real people. There is some truly stunning, immersive descriptions of Cape Cod that truly take you there. I could see the cabin reflections shimmering on the water, the sounds of the birds and raccoons in the forest, the smells of barbecues and the warmth of the sun on my skin. It’s also incredibly clever how The Paper Palace’s physical fragility yet resilience reflects Elle and Jonas’ relationship perfectly. It’s a heartbreaking, gritty read as we travel back through Elle’s life and witness abuse, crimes and grief but it’s a fantastic, intoxicating read that sweeps you up and holds you inside this devastating love story.

The Paper Palace is focused on one day in the life of Elle, as the potentially life changing events of that day unfold you are then taken back through her life to find out what happened to lead her there. The traumas that she (and her family members) face are dark and uncomfortable to read at times. The characters are difficult to warm to, they all have their flaws and these are highlighted more than their good sides.

After reading the reviews of The Paper Palace I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed and disappointed. It is a good novel, but I was expecting something very special and for me it wasn't quite there.

I was given a copy of The Paper Palace by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Absolutely amazing story could not put this down. Elle’s journey so sad and it kept me guessing until the end who she would choose. Loved it!

Brilliant! What an engaging, engrossing book. I couldn’t put it down. Elle has always loved Jonas, deep down, since she was young. They spent summers together at The Paper Palace, Elle’s family summer home. But Elle is married to Peter and she has three children with him. Such an interesting structure: we start the fifty year journey but told in one day, flashing back and forth from past to present.. Families are complicated and Elle’s is no exception. Her mother is a fascinating character. Her father is weak and divorces her mother moving on to a series of awful women, leading her mother to meet and marry someone called Leo - a nice guy. But that cannot be said of his awful, violent, abusive son Conrad, who ruins Elle’s life, in a devastating way. Poor Elle, she has no one to turn to. Apart fromJonas, the love of her life. He helps her, thank goodness. A fantastic read, thank you for letting me review it.