Hanya Yanagihara’s eagerly awaited new novel, entitled To Paradise, will be published by Picador in January 2022.

From the author of the internationally bestselling A Little Life, To Paradise is a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.

From the author of the classic #ALittleLife, comes#ToParadise by Hanya Yanagihara a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia: https://t.co/7i5a5GBRuU pic.twitter.com/tEpFSx1bPh

— Pan Macmillan SA (@PanMacmillanSA) April 20, 2021

Ravi Mirchandani, Editor-in-Chief of Picador, says:

‘We at Picador are delighted to be publishing Hanya’s extraordinary new novel, an immensely powerful fictional exploration of the issue of who paradise is for – for any idea of paradise crucially also involves an idea of who must be excluded from it.

‘It is very much a novel about the soul, the past and the future, of the United States, but at a time when political issues of diversity and inclusion engage us as much as those of whom we wish to – or should – exclude from our homes, our public places and our nation-states, it engages with issues of race and sexuality, imperialism and disease that are central to all our lives, wherever in the world we happen to live.

‘And, like A Little Life, it is not only a novel of ideas, but one of plot and of character, as deeply moving and powerfully propulsive as it is haunting and thought-provoking. I am in awe of Hanya’s achievement in writing this novel; we are very proud indeed to be publishing it.’

About the book

In 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.

These three sections are joined in an enthralling and 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 realisation 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.

To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel of marvellous 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.

Categories Fiction International

Tags A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara New books New releases Pan Macmillan SA To Paradise