This Vacant Paradise: A Novel

“Patterson beautifully parses the consequences of one woman’s fall in this memorable, penetrating, fully achieved novel.” —The New York Times Book Review

Story Prize and California Book Award finalist Victoria Patterson revisits Newport Beach in This Vacant Paradise, examining the intersections of economics, class, race, sex, and family expectations during the mid–1990s.

Esther lives with her grandmother, a virulent matriarch who controls her family through her wealth. Esther knows that an ad...