To Paradiseis a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the elusive idea of utopia; driven by Yanagiharas understanding of our desire to protect those we love partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens and the pain that ensues when we cannot.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love as they please (or so it seems).
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.
In 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientists damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him and solve the mystery of her husbands disappearance.

What unites these characters, and these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human fear, love, shame, need, loneliness and the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise.