TO PARADISE

u003cbu003e#1 u003ciu003eNEW YORK TIMESu003c/iu003e BEST SELLER • From the award-winning, best-selling author of the classic u003ciu003eA Little Life—u003c/iu003ea bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:u003ciu003e VOGUE u003c/iu003e• u003ciu003eESQUIRE u003c/iu003e• u003ciu003eNPR u003c/iu003e• GOODREADSu003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003ciu003eTo Paradiseu003c/iu003e is a u003ciu003efin deu003c/iu003e siècle novel of marvelous 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.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eIn 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.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eThese three sections comprise an 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.