Prepare for an unforgettable afternoon with Janelle Brown, Atherton and Woodside native and the acclaimed author behind multiple national bestsellers. Join us for a thrilling, in-person author talk to explore her latest page-turning novel, What Kind of Paradise. Don’t miss this special opportunity to connect with a captivating storyteller on Saturday, June 7, at 3:00 PM, at the Atherton Library, opens a new window. Join us for light refreshments and conversation on the Atherton Library’s front patio.
Special Giveaway
Pick up a free copy of What Kind of Paradise at your local San Mateo County Libraries starting Wednesday, June 4—while supplies last! Limited copies will also be available at the event, where attendees will have the opportunity to have their book signed by Janelle Brown after the discussion.
What Kind of Paradise – A tale of suspense set in the heart of Silicon Valley
In her most riveting and personal novel yet, Brown turns her hand to history with the story of a teenage girl breaking free from her father’s isolated world, unraveling the secrets that shaped her and creating her own destiny at the birth of the dot-com era.
Growing up in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane’s entire existence is the remote cabin in which she lives with her father: the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they eke out a subsistence existence, the books of 19th-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 Thoreau-like utopia.
As Jane becomes a teenager, she starts pushing against the boundaries of her restricted world. She begs to accompany her father on his occasional trips away from the cabin. But when Jane realizes that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime, she flees Montana to the only place she knows to look for answers about her mysterious past, and her mother's death: San Francisco. It is a city amid a seismic change, where her quest to understand herself will force her to reckon with both the possibilities and the limitations of the fledgling internet. It’s where she will come to see that the love her father has given to her has come at a great cost—and with great danger.
Get to Know Janelle Brown
"I’ve spent nearly thirty years thinking about how technology changes our culture. It’s a subject I keep coming back to in my books." —Janelle Brown
Janelle Brown is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels I’ll Be You, Pretty Things, Watch Me Disappear, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and This Is Where We Live, with What Kind of Paradise coming in June 2025. Her books have been sold in two dozen countries around the world. Pretty Things—named a Best Book of 2020 by Amazon—is currently being adapted for television by Peacock and Fifth Season.
Her journalism and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, Wired, Self, RealSimple, The Los Angeles Times and numerous other publications. Previously, she worked as a senior writer at Salon, and began her career as a staff writer at Wired during the dotcom boom years, working on seminal Web sites like HotWired and Wired News. In the 1990s, she was also the editor and co-founder of Maxi, an irreverent (and now, long-gone) women’s pop culture webzine.
A native of San Francisco and graduate of UC Berkeley, she has since defected to Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband Greg and their two children.
Praise for What Kind of Paradise
“This is the kind of book I’ve been waiting for—an intelligent and thoughtful page-turner that explores the sometimes blurry lines between right and wrong, truth and fiction, choice and fate. In What Kind of Paradise, Janelle Brown methodically unravels my favorite kind of mystery—that of who we are and what we believe at our deepest core.”
—Jessica Knoll, opens a new window, New York Times bestselling author of Bright Young Women and Luckiest Girl Alive"Janelle Brown’s new novel is a complete knockout. Written in Brown’s characteristically hypnotic scenes, What Kind of Paradise features a fierce young woman fleeing her self-proclaimed prophet father. This novel should be required reading for anyone with qualms about extremism or Big Tech. A sinuous, intensely satisfying, spectacular read."
—Amity Gaige, opens a new window, author of Heartwood“What Kind of Paradise is a swiftly moving, gorgeously told story that wrestles with the repercussions of progress, technology, capitalism and power. But at its heart, it’s the story of a father and a daughter fighting to understand where they belong in a world on the brink of revolutionary change. Longtime fans of Brown will be thrilled to find her blazing on all cylinders here and newcomers are in for an addictive treat. I couldn’t put it down!”
—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, opens a new window, New York Times bestselling author of Good Company and The Nest
Don’t Miss This Exclusive Event!
Come meet Janelle Brown, get inspired by her journey, and dive into the world of What Kind of Paradise. Whether you're a long-time fan or discovering her work for the first time, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss!
Add a comment to: Meet Janelle Brown, Author of What Kind of Paradise