What Kind of Paradise: A Novel

Jane grows up in an isolated cabin in Montana during the mid-1990s with only her father, learning from nineteenth-century philosophy books instead of attending school. Her father has revealed little about their past beyond mentioning they once lived in the Bay Area and that Jane's mother died in a car accident—an event that prompted him to move Jane off the grid. As a teenager, Jane begins questioning the boundaries of her restricted world. When she discovers that her devotion to her father has made her complicit in a horrific crime, she flees Montana to San Francisco to search for answers about her mysterious past and her mother's death. The city is undergoing rapid change, and Jane's search for self-understanding forces her to confront both the possibilities and dangers of the emerging internet. This novel explores how a young woman comes to know herself, examining themes of parents and children, nature and technology, innocence and knowledge, and the relationship between past losses and future dreams.