What Kind of Paradise

“A mesmerizing blend of coming-of-age and psychological suspense, set against the birth of the internet age.”—PeopleThe first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world.Growing up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane knows only the world that she and her father live in: the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they try to eke out a subsistence, the books of nineteenth-century philosophy that her father gives her to read in lieu of going to school. Her father is elusive about their pasts, giving Jane little beyond the facts that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident, the crash propelling him to move Jane off the grid to raise her in a Waldenesque utopia.

"A mesmerizing blend of coming-of-age and psychological suspense, set against the birth of the internet age. It's a story about isolation, secrets, and the power of truth--and also a deep dive into the ways technology has affected us as a society and individuals."--People
"[Brown's] most gripping, thought-provoking and haunting novel yet . . . I would argue that What Kind of Paradise should be required reading, a work of fiction that functions nearly as nonfiction, akin to Kim Brooks's Small Animals or Tara Westover's Educated. I expect to see this galvanizing, powerful novel at the top of many 'Best Of' lists this year."--Bookreporter
"[What Kind of Paradise] deftly captures both the giddy enthusiasm of that period when the internet's possibilities felt boundless, as well as the unforeseen dangers and downsides that were ushered in with the digital revolution."--San Francisco Chronicle
"What Kind of Paradise is a twisty, sharp coming-of-age story for our strange techno-utopian times. It brims with suspense and family secrets, all while asking big questions about the cost of progress."--Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans
"This is the work of a writer who truly knows how to thrill. Janelle Brown has constructed a tender novel about parents and children, one that leaves readers weighing unanswerable questions of ethics and responsibility."--Rumaan Alam, author of Entitlement and Leave the World Behind