Book Discussion: The Paper Palace

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Program Type:

Books & Reading

Age Group:

Adults
  • Registration is required for this event.
  • Registration will close on July 24, 2025 @ 2:00pm.
  • A Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Card is required.

Program Description

Event Details

Explore this gripping novel of love, betrayal, family secrets, and the choices that define us as we discuss The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. 

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 the author 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. Copies of the book will be available for pick up at our Main Branch starting Thursday, June 26th. 


 

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