The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley HellerOn a perfect August morning, Elle Bishop heads out for a swim in the pond below 'The Paper Palace' her family's holiday home in Cape Cod. As she dives beneath the water she relives the passionate encounter she had the night before, against the side of the house that knows all her darkest secrets, while her husband and mother chatted to their guests inside So begins a story that unfolds over twenty four hours and fifty years, as Elle's shocking

whose promise to each other kept them alive

So begins Liesel's love affair with books and words

philosophy and philosophy and forms himself into the man who would become the world's most famous and admired revolutionary and freedom fighter

infections and cancer

She tries to play a match with her brothers and sisters but she doesn't know how many spiders should be on each team

magical tale of belonging and identity

' ObserverAfter signing up for the US army in the 1850s

from the Jurassic Coast of Antrim to the great Ice Age bone-beds of Cork

'This is a portrait of a couple bound in a lovesong

The Irish Times

But then - years since they last spoke - Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn't remember it that way at all

the lives of other women who could be guiding lights - from Monica Lewinsky to Caroline Norton to Sinead O'Connor - Intimacies offers keenly felt and subtly revealing insights into the heartbreak and hope of modern life