The Paper Palace, by debut novelist Miranda Cowley Heller was Kate’s BW book club pick for Feb/March and it was a doozy! We can see why there was so much buzz surrounding this novel and why it was a Reese Book Club pick.

Truthfully, this book is a lot to unpack. There are loads of content warnings as the characters’ lives are fraught with abuse and generational trauma. However, that being said, this is a book worthy of discussion.

As a “Beautiful Words” book club the writing and the imagery in the story stood out for so many reasons:
- The descriptions of the Paper Palace and setting were particularly rich and poignant
- The symbols were interesting and often left to a reader’s interpretation
- The narration timeline was unique and thoughtfully crafted
- And the characters were wonderfully complex and very human

We enjoyed this book immensely and our conversations about the book were just as rich as its writing. We would definitely recommend for book clubs and buddy reads, but be sure to look up the content warnings first.