Dream State: 'The Paper Palace meets Jonathan Franzen' Sunday Times Style

An Oprah's Book Club Pick and an instant New York Times bestseller

A Book of the Year for The Times, Guardian and BBC Culture in 2025

'[A] brilliantly panoramic tale of family ties' Guardian

'Moving, funny and utterly engrossing' The Times

'A totally involving and moving literary page-turner' Clare Chambers

'I did not stop reading Dream State for three days straight' Jessie Burton

'I loved it. I read it so so fast and I think if you like, for example, Jonathan Franzen or books where people love, love, love a place so much, you too may find yourself longing to jump in a lake' Ella Risbridger

Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her in-laws' beautiful lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a cardiac anaesthesiologist with a brilliant life ahead of him.

When Charlie asks Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, Cece can't imagine anyone less appropriate; but as she spends time with him and his gruff mask slips, she grows increasingly uncertain about her future. Spanning fifty years after that fateful summer, Dream State is a profoundly moving saga of friendship, marriage and the ways we make meaning out of loss.