Big Books of 2026
Denise asked this question about The Paper Palace:
Anyone finished who wants to discuss the ending? I am still not sure how I feel about it, am ruminating.
rei I think Elle chose Jonas. Towards the end when she asked Peter to join her for a swim she says “Come with me. End this”. It’s as if she’s wanting Pete…moreI think Elle chose Jonas. Towards the end when she asked Peter to join her for a swim she says “Come with me. End this”. It’s as if she’s wanting Peter to make her choice for her, almost as if she knows if it were up to her her choice would be Jonas, but is afraid to lose Peter and ruin her family. But when he decided not to go she made the decision herself and that’s to swim towards Jonas. I thought maybe she committed suicide as well, but I doubt she’d leave her children without their mother.

Another reason why she chose Jonas, I think the whole book what happened with Conrad prevented Elle from ever pursuing Jonas. Almost as if being together, there will always be a constant reminder of what “they did” the day Conrad drowned. I think Elle has been a prisoner in her own feeling of guilt about what she did, and her love for Jonas despite loving and marrying Peter. But in the end she says of the sunrise “it hovers, suspended for a moment, before breaking free of it’s tethers- the break of dawn”, I think is her way of finally being free of her guilt and feelings and allowing herself to finally choose to love Jonas. (less)
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The Paper Palace
by Miranda Cowley Heller
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