This Vacant Paradise

“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 adv