Traversing three centuries and three alternative versions of the American experiment, the author of A Little Life returns with a spellbinding chronicle of love, the meaning of family and the excruciating cost of unattainable dreams.
From the author of the classic A Little Life, a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.
In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him—and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances.
These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another: A townhouse in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village; illness, and treatments that come at a terrible cost; wealth and squalor; the weak and the strong; race; the definition of family, and of nationhood; the dangerous righteousness of the powerful, and of revolutionaries; the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise, and the gradual realization that it can’t exist. What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. Love. Shame. Need. Loneliness.
To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel of marvellous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love – partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens – and the pain that ensues when we cannot.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781529077476
Number of pages: 720
Weight: 1196 g
Dimensions: 241 x 165 x 58 mm
After the painfully affecting [A Little Life] To Paradise gives us three stories far apart in space and time but each unique in their power to summon the joy and complexity of love, the pain of loss. I’m not sure I’ve ever missed the world of a book as much as I miss To Paradise now I’ve left it. - Observer
To Paradise is a transcendent, visionary novel of stunning scope and depth. A novel so layered, so rich, so relevant, so full of the joys and terrors – the pure mystery – of human life, is not only rare, it’s revolutionary. - Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
Hanya Yanagihara's To Paradise is as good as War and Peace - Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story
One of the most anticipated books of 2022 – if not the decade . . . Prepare to weep in public and be utterly transformed. - Stylist
To Paradise becomes unputdownable . . . Amidst the worst travails and political pressures, the primacy of human bonds is irreducible, a truth that lies at the heart of this frightening and very beautiful novel.' - Literary Review
A future classic . . . For those captivated by Yanagihara’s A Little Life, her next is equally gripping . . . Ultimately, it asks the question: is love really all we need? - Telegraph
A bravura achievement . . . Behind this impressive, significant novel stands the question: what is a life, if it is not lived in freedom? - Guardian
A very unusual sensibility and a burning subject matter have come together here . . . Highly affecting. Read it and hope not to revisit it in your dreams. - Sunday Times
“To Paradise” is probably the most anticipated book of 2022. It shows the depth of Yanagihara ‘s imagination as an author. It is composed of three books exploring three different versions of America, each a century... More
Another thought provoking, deeply considered masterpiece from this unique and brilliant author. It’s a long book broken into three parts intertwined by place and characters. Very finely tuned and emotive a definite... More
Hanya Yanagihara’s previous “Little Life” was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize and (even despite not winning the prize) six years further on, still I think remains one of (if not) the shortlisted book from the... More
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