Goodreads Blurb

Before anyone else is awake, on a perfect August morning, Elle Bishop heads out for a swim in the glorious freshwater pond below 'The Paper Palace' -- the gently decaying summer camp in the back woods of Cape Cod where her family has spent every summer for generations. As she passes the house, Elle glances through the screen porch at the uncleared table from the dinner the previous evening; empty wine glasses, candle wax on the tablecloth, echoes of laughter of family and friends. Then she dives beneath the surface of the freezing water to the shocking memory of the sudden passionate encounter she had the night before, up against the wall behind the house, as her husband and mother chatted to the guests inside.

So begins a story that unfolds over twenty-four hours and across fifty years, as decades of family legacies, love, lies, secrets, and one unspeakable incident in her childhood lead Elle to the precipice of a life-changing decision. Over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the world she has made with her much-loved husband, Peter, and the life she imagined would be hers with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives.

My Review

Brilliantly described landscape around "The Paper Palace". Every time Elle plunged into the pond, I held my breath. 

The tenderness and the emotion with which the writer handled the whole story was unlike anything I've read before. I could totally relate to the dilemma going through Elle. My heart went out to her. 

The story of the dysfunctional family is so gripping and proves that tragedy is like a legacy and travels generation by generation in a family. 

Elle's mom was annoying but believable. Conrad felt disgusting. In the end I felt like Elle should just keep the best of both worlds. Jonas and Peter, I'd settle for any of them :).

Final Verdict

An Underrated Gem of a book. A must-read. 

Who Should Read This

Fiction lovers looking for adult stories full of meaning must read this.

Warning - rape and child abuse references.