num_pages: 400
description: It is a perfect July morning and Elle a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three awakens at The Paper Palacethe family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now over the next twenty-four hours Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband Peter and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love Jonas if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives. As Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity. Tender yet devastating The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity the legacies of abuse and the crimes and misdemeanors of families. Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593329825.
language: English
title: The Paper Palace
publisher: Riverhead Books