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

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What I took from that chapter in my life was how to write real dialogue. People don’t lead each other in conversation, they often repeat each other. It’s the unsaid, the spaces in between, that are so cool. And of course I visualise everything very filmically. Over the course of 24 hours, Elle will go through her life, recounting all her memories, secrets, and lies to come to her decision. Will she continue to live her happy life with Peter or choose the life she's always dreamed of with Jonas? Fifty-year-old Elle is a happily married wife and mother of three with a life-changing decision to make...

I would say completely inhibiting. I remember my father, who’s a book editor, yelling at me when I was 10 about a term paper I’d written. He’d go, “Cut, cut, cut!” That’s the milieu I grew up in. And because there are a lot of writers who are successful in the family, I was like, if I can’t do it well, I’m not going to try. The story begins with Elle beginning her day after consummating a life-long crush relationship with a man, Jonas, who she’s known since she’s been a child. Elle and Jonas came to this family compound, named The Paper Palace, since they were children. Elle is two years older than Jonas, which is not a big difference in age now that they are adults. But as children, he was a mere boy. The beginning scenes are a bit “racy” in description of their tryst. Author Heller is direct. This is an extramarital affair. 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 Complex relationship dynamics. Provocative and forbidden love. Undeniable family bond. Palpable atmosphere. They don’t, and Conrad drowns. Elle and Jonas make a blood oath to keep the secret of how Conrad died. Jonas gives Elle a green glass ring.

The Paper Palace tells the story of Elle, a woman who is married to Peter and has three children with him. A family drama, a forbidden love story, a childhood tragedy, this is a stunning literary debut that will leave you reeling i Beware….of taboo scenes: sex, lies, cheating, rape, incest, …..but it would be a shame —IMO if this book was labeled and categorized as the naughty-distasteful- book - because it’s NOT!

This book really affected me… but in a positive way. It’s not often I read a book that makes me feel emotional purely down to the writing style alone. As an aspiring writer, this novel makes my stomach drop (in the best way) and gives me a warm feeling in my chest; it really makes you FEEL.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 After that, Nanette married Vince, a banana salesman. Nanette left him and got a villa in Guatemala in the divorce. Wallace’s brother Austin stayed there, but Wallace went the U.S. to attend boarding school. This accomplished family saga is gripping and poetic, capturing the complexity of the human heart Daily Mirror The Paper Palace has been likened to Where the Crawdads Sing and Little Fires Everywhere, and I would agree with that. It's one of those books you must read, regardless of your normal reading taste (I'm a psychological thriller girl) - and it leaves you understanding more about yourself and the people around you. An assured debut. A sultry tale of Waspish New England that captures the spirit of Updike and Cheever.” — The Times (London)

When she’s confessing all to Wallace about the rape and Conrad, Wallace says “I think you broke his heart when you married Peter.” When Wallace says, “There are some swims you do regret, Eleanor. The problem is you never know until you take them” she means that she knows that Elle took a “swim” with Jonas.In the wake of the book’s released, the debate over explaining the ending has become increasingly feverish. There are entire forum threads dedicated to it, in fact, on Reddit and Goodreads, with many people asking the same question: who did Elle choose? Did anyone ever see the movie called “Adore”, with Robin Wright and Naomi Watts….(they each had an affair with each other’s son)…and it took place in lush Australia…in a beach house? Beautiful and uncomfortable- right? The secondary problem is that the blurb sells you a contemporary tale of love, conflict, betrayal and sacrifice that many a middle aged woman could either relate to or be vicariously curious about. Except instead you get this woman's life story whom you don't care about. Plus there are an overwhelming number of trigger warnings, all of them Bad.

Later that night, she and Wallace discuss Leo. Elle tells her mother that it wasn’t Leo who raped her, but Conrad. Wallace tells Elle that there are “some swims you do regret.“ After the divorce, Wallace starts a relationship with Leo, a musician. He has two children, Rosemary and Conrad. The novel is set in Cape Cod and follows Elle’s life as she struggles with her feelings for two men, Peter, her husband, and Jonas, her childhood sweetheart. Elle has known Jonas since she was a child, and they have always had a special connection. However, Elle is married to Peter and is the mother of three children. The novel explores the complexities of Elle’s relationships and her struggles with her feelings for both men. A commenter on this post made a very important point: that talking about fictional characters’ experiences with trauma, sexual assault and sexual abuse can be extremely triggering to those who are survivors. If this is a book club choice, you might want to let members know.In the present, Elle and her family arrive in Cape Cod. She sees Jonas and Gina fighting. Peter gets called to Memphis for a story and Elle goes with him. Elle visits Conrad’s grave and goes to see Rosemary, who tells her that Conrad raped her too and that she is glad that Conrad is dead. Ali Smith’s Autumn is certainly one of them. There was a particular point where I felt like I was writing poetry instead of a story, and then I read Ali Smith and thought: “Anything’s OK.” 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 Well I've set a record with this one. Sometimes I DNF early, usually around 25%, sometimes before that; but I quit here in the middle of the 3rd sentence. If you are a person who is impressed by overwritten slush, stop reading here and walk away. Or in your preferred langue du commerce, relinquish the tome in your bejeweled, alabaster digits and prance haughtily from this verbose online chamber of literary enlightenment. With your chapeau atilt.