This is an absolutely delightful book, beginning with an eventful evening at the family summer house, and slowly evolving the story of relationships from childhood up to the present day. The characters are thoughtfully developed, in particular Elle’s mother can be hilarious. At times it is heart wrenching. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really tried to get into this book but I just couldn’t. Sadly not my thing. I got 17% in and I still had no clue what was going on and nothing much had happened. Sorry.

This book was gripping! At the start, there are a lot of character names which was pretty tricky to keep on top of but once you’ve got that sorted then it really is a great read.
A page turner, couldn’t wait to find out what happened!

I really loved enjoyed this book, I was completely drawn in . The characters were well-written and the story really descriptive. Highly recommended.

I really loved this book, I was immersed in Elle's life and all the threads that are caught up together in her present day dilemma. The characters were well-drawn and I empathised with Elle as she is caught between her past and present loves. The book is evocative and descriptive so I feel I knew the setting and could visualise it all. I didn't want it to finish!

I had just finished a fairly challenging book and read this description of ‘The Paper Palace” by William Boyd - “A beautifully constructed, wonderfully intelligent and beguiling novel, rich with a multitude of pleasures” it immediately reeled me in as I love his writing and respect his opinion.
Its hard to believe this is a debut novel as the writing is so accomplished, lyrical and addictive.
This novel is narrated by Eleanor (Elle) who throughout her life has faced challenges and adversity alongside her elder sister Anna. Now in middle age she finds herself having to make a heartbreaking decision that will have lasting consequences for all around her. She’s in a love triangle with Jonas her childhood friend with whom she shares a dark secret and Peter her devoted husband. There’s vivid descriptions of the summer landscape in Cape Cod and the family dynamics; and part of the story is told in flashback sequences which runs alongside the present day. At its heart this is a love story and gripping family saga and its portrayed in a sympathetic manner for all involved and its an absolute page turner.
I was totally immersed in this story and couldn’t put it down, as was heavily invested in what the outcome would be for Elle. All the characters felt like members of a real family - albeit a dysfunctional one. My only criticism is that there were a lot of them and at times I found myself wondering who was related to whom and how. I didn’t want this book to end as I was enjoying it so much and may even have been a little bit in love with the enigmatic and sensitive Jonas.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough and am extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to read it pre-publication. Am already looking forward to her next book.
Due to be published in hardback in July 2021.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books Ltd for the e-arc in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Elle is happily married to Peter and they have 3 children. One evening at their holiday home she has sex with Jonas, her childhood friend. Now she has to make a decision on which way her life will go. The story of her life since childhood is told, and the terrible secret that she shares with Jonas is revealed. This is a great family story which will keep you riveted to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER – THE PAPER PALACE *****

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Without question this must be one of the most immersive family-life sagas I have read this year. Not only that, but it is beautifully written; you feel that not only do you know the characters, with all their flaws, but the beautiful wooded lakeside setting as well.

It starts and ends in the present, and delves beck to when Elle, the narrator, was a child, the boy she met then who she has never forgotten, and her husband now, an Englishman who rescued her from an attacker in London, and flits between the two. Secrets are revealed, people die, impulses are acted upon, tragedies ensue.

Often, I can’t wait to get to the end of a book, in order to read the next on my list. With this, so real were the characters and settings, I didn’t want to leave.

I can see that is very well written and the story is complex and well structured - but - and its a big but - I just did not like any of the characters with maybe the exception of Peter.
Morally bankrupt, uncaring, selfish and self obsessed - the underlying issue of why Elle is the way she is was unpleasant to read and even without that issue in her life she was already on the way to blaming the world for her attitude.
I'm sorry I found the book so frustrating with the over riding sense of entitlement the characters had and to be honest although a lot happens in the book somehow it feels that nothing really happens.
When you don't engage with the characters its so hard to care about what happens to them.
Not for me I am afraid - read very much like a lot of Anne Tylers books who we have often done in bookclub and again I struggle with those.
Sorry again - I won't be posting my review on Amazon et all.

An interesting read but quite a mixed review. Another reviewer compared to a little life which is a good comparison. Some parts ran on too much and made it hard to get into. Intriguing.
Trigger warnings for rape, quite upsetting to read.

This is very very very much my kind of book - a family drama with lots of multiple time periods and characters and depressing sub plots and really not very much happens. That is my absolute perfect book so I know I was going to love it.

I adored the structure of this book. It is set half over the course of one day and half in flashbacks. The current day takes place over one day for Elle, who is on holiday at The Paper Palace, her family’s vacation home. Elle’s childhood friend, Jonas, is joining them, and it’s clear from the start of the book that both Elle and Jonas have cheated on their partners the previous night, and that they have been in love with each other since they were children.

We find a lot of this out through flashbacks, which makes it the most wonderful character study, and not just a character study of Elle either, but also of Jonas, Elle’s sister Anna, her husband Peter and also their mother, Wallace. All of these characters felt so real and well-formed to be.

The story is sad with many tragic moments told to us through flashbacks, and to be honest towards the end there was one moment which felt so unnecessarily sad to include (just after another sad moment) that I can see it being criticised for “tragedy porn” a la A Little Life (which, to be fair, is one of my all-time favourite books).

I absolutely adored this book. It is everything I want from this kind of story - fascinating characters, family relationships, a realistic story and an intriguing format.

5 stars

This book had a strong start but for me it kind of fell flat. I don’t usually mind when books jump in to flashbacks but I found it really choppy in this book and made it hard for me to remember which characters were which.
I didn’t really like any of the characters either so I really found it a struggle to read. I wanted to like it, the premise sounded so interesting but for me it just didn’t work.

The Paper Palace is about Ellie and her relationships with two men, Jonas and Peter. It's nominally set over a 24 hour period but jumps back and forth between different times in their life which allowed you to see why things transpired as they did.

This is a beautifully written book - it definitely conjured up locations for me and I felt like I was immersed in it. Having said that I have one minor reservation about it. I didn't really like any of the main characters. There wasn't anyone I was really rooting for. It didn't stop me enjoying the book, but I just feel like I could have enjoyed it more.

Oh, my heart! This was such a moving story about love, family and trauma. I loved the relationship with Anna in particular, and could have read a whole novel on that alone! It was a brilliant book, and I'll recommend it to everyone.

I was drawn into this book from the first page. I love the writing, the pace and the characters, including their many flaws.

I was dubious at the start as I got confused by all the characters and the two timelines but suddenly it got a grip of me and I really enjoyed it. The characters are very well-drawn: I particularly liked Ellie's husband Peter, and his relationship with her mother, Wallace, who had a put-down for everything. Both Ellie's grandmother and her mother have has several husbands and are not very good mothers. So far, Ellie has bucked the trend of dysfunctional relationships. and has a close relationship with her children. I was unsure whether Ellie's grandmother relocated to Guatemala or Antigua as both are mentioned. The timelines are not separated very distinctly - a chapter index would help with this. I love the small descriptive touches the author throws in - there is always rotting food or animal droppings or a nasty smell lurking in every scene. The dark secrets from the past are slowly revealed as Ellie comes to terms with the choice she has to make between Jonah and Peter. The ending is ambiguous even though I read it a few times I could not decide what choice it was. Slightly disappointing.

I floundered a bit with this book as it was basically set during 24hours but kept jumping back and forth to events in the past which made it all rather disjointed. It was somewhat slow, laboured and overcomplicated in parts. Without doubt some wonderful descriptive passages in the read and well written, however, I didn't take to any of the characters. and at the end of the day it was the fragmented style I just didn't enjoy but others might.

Much of my book reading is done at night when I go to bed, which is one reason it can take me a long time. However, if a book grabs me I'll have my nose stuck in it throughout the day. This is one of those books -the writing is exquisite.

Elle and her family have spent almost every summer, for the past fifty years or so, on Cape Cod in the Back Woods. It's here that her great-grandfather built the Paper Palace, a collection of ramshackle but cosy cabins. It's here that Elle meets Jonas a boy a couple of years younger but with whom she immediately strikes a bond, a bond which grows into a deep love which endures throughout the years.

The characters in this novel are lively, interesting and full of wry humour, every one of them flawed but all the more believable. There's Anna the rebel, Elle's older sister; stepbrother creepy Conrad who comes to live with them; Jonas, of course, wild and intense; Elle's father, divorced from their mother and totally unreliable in every way. I love Elle's straight-talking mother, from whom Elle concealed her most dreadful secret. Yes, they're all here with various other friends and relatives all of whom make for a glorious, lively mix.

The novel covers fifty years, hopping back and forth which, at times I found confusing, but was still able to follow the narrative.

The author's powers of description took my breath away – I was there, in those woods, walking up the dusty lanes, swimming in the pond.

It's not often I feel sad as I approach the end of a book, having to pull away from a place and the people who have inhabited it, but with this one, well yes, I did. Maybe I'm getting old, maybe I wanted something truly escapist, maybe I was just in the right frame of mind, but I loved this book, and will definitely read it again. This is her debut novel? Wow! I truly hope she has more in there.

The Paper Palace follows the seemingly simple love story of Elle, Peter and Jonas. The story was a little slow to begin, but the flickering timelines and layers upon layers of depth and complexity to the story. I did not feel I necessarily liked Elle, but in a way that she was a believable character with flaws, secrets and emotions. For me personally, the ending left a little to be desired. I typically enjoy a clear cut ending and this was a little lore vague, if not leaning slightly more in one direction.

This richly-textured love story takes place within 24 hours, though most of the book comprises flashbacks depicting Elle’s upbringing and several key incidents. I must admit, I didn’t love it at first as there was too much of a jump from the first scene, with Elle having just committed adultery, to long drawn-out descriptions of her grandparents and parents’ past. Though the novel was slow-going at first, from about half-way onwards it became a sensitive and compelling exploration of the effects of trauma and the terrible burden of carrying secrets. The writing is also beautiful and the characters well-drawn.