The Paper Palace (Reese's Book Club): A Novel

REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE

THE PAPER PALACE IS:


“Filled with secrets, love, lies and a summer beach house. What more could you ask?”—Parade

“A deeply emotional love story…the unraveling of secrets, lies and a very complex love triangle.” Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club July ’21 Pick)

"Nail-biting." —Town & Country


“A magnificent page-turner.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author

“[An] irresistible placement of a complicated family in a bewitching place.” The New York Times

A story of summer, secrets, love, and lies: in the course of a singular day on Cape Cod, one woman must make a life-changing decision that has been brewing for decades.


“This house, this place, knows all my secrets.”

It is a perfect August morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace”—the 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.

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400 pages

Average rating: 6.35

1,234 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

aviationmet
Mar 31, 2025
6/10 stars
This one was a hard one to get through - so much trauma and abuse - really too much. And, I really struggle liking a character who is not faithful in their marriage, so from the start, I didn't like the main character. Too many lies. Just not for me.
KBRielly
Mar 28, 2025
7/10 stars
Group Rating 7
Anonymous
Mar 26, 2025
2/10 stars
Nope.
Anonymous
Dec 12, 2024
6/10 stars
"There are some swims you do regret, Eleanor. The problem is, you never know until you take them."

this read was not a regret, but also *not* a recommendation. every time a character got close to redeemable or empathetic, they did something unlikeable again. I can understand the symbolism of the ending, but after the whole book leading up to her decision idk I was expecting to see her make that decision definitively
stackedlibrarian
Dec 11, 2024
10/10 stars
4.5

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