To Paradise cover art

To Paradise

A powerful novel of love, freedom, and family, from the author of the Booker-shortlisted A Little Life

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To Paradise

By: Hanya Yanagihara
Narrated by: BD Wong, Catherine Ho, Edoardo Ballerini, Feodor Chin, Kurt Kanazawa
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About this listen

The No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller from the author of A Little Life

'I’m not sure I’ve ever missed the world of a book as much' – The Observer

To Paradise is a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the elusive idea of utopia; driven by Hanya Yanagihara’s understanding of our desire to protect those we love – lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens – and the pain that ensues when we cannot.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love as they please (or so it seems).

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.

In 2093, in a world torn apart 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 disappearance.

What unites these characters, and these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human – fear, love, shame, loneliness – and the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise.

‘Not only rare . . . revolutionary’ – Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours

‘Prepare to weep in public and be utterly transformed’ – Stylist

 Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Scary

Critic Reviews

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.
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.
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.'
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?
A bravura achievement . . . Behind this impressive, significant novel stands the question: what is a life, if it is not lived in freedom?
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.
All stars
Most relevant
Book 2 very slow.
Book 3 kind of compelling, at times. I wish Dr Griffith’s narrator would just narrate - the acting got a bit too much.

Just narrate

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Heartbreaking, lovely, full of understated longing and despair but just too long. I usually love to read a big book, but I’m glad I listened too this, I’m not sure I’d have persisted if I’d been reading it myself.

Amazing, just too long

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Like A little life, this takes the reader on a journey - shows us how change we think is permanent can be overturned; how plagues can decimate, climate change - the desire to live and survive are primal. So enjoyed it.

Epic

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I wasn't sure exactly what to expect after reading A Little Life & reading some of the To Paradise reviews.
I can say now, that I thoroughly & absolutely enjoyed this book from start to end. From the 3 similar but also vastly different parts, to the perfect narrators. I agree with some others that part 2 dragged on a little, however pushing through it to hear part 3 is well worth it. Hanya amazes me how she can imagine such worlds - even weeks after finishing this book I still find myself thinking back to it & wishing I could read it for the first time all over again.

Loved it

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Very long and very depressing. I kept hoping for redemption by waiting to the end of the whole 30+ hours but alas it was not realised.
I LOVED a little life, which was also sad and horrific in ways but there was more joy as well.

Soooooo depressing!

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