A New York Times Editor's Choice

"A magnetic, atmospheric, razor-sharp work." —Aysegül Savas, author of Walking on the Ceiling and White on White

An insightful look at a young woman’s search for meaning, independence, and belonging in the face of a consuming relationship

Frances is an English graduate student bruised by a messy breakup. On the spur of the moment, she decides to volunteer at a farm in rural France with the hope that the change of scenery will help clear her head. The farm, curiously named Noa Noa, is owned by Paul, an appealing, enigmatic Frenchman. Frances is charmed by his easygoing ways and by the area itself, both welcome changes from the life she has known. Yet the more time she spends in Paul’s world, the more unmoored she begins to feel. It isn’t long before murmurings about Paul begin to surface and she realizes how ill-equipped she is for the emotional battle of wills that is smoldering around her, one that threatens to silence and engulf her.

In Paul, Daisy Lafarge has written a perceptive exploration of the power dynamics between men and women, told in a fresh and exciting new voice.

A sharp, timely debut about a young woman's toxic relationship with an older man and her battle to free herself from the suffocating expectation to be "good."

When personal scandal forces her to leave Paris, Frances, a young British graduate student, travels to southern France one summer to volunteer on a farm. Almost as soon as she arrives, she is pulled into a relationship with the farm's enigmatic owner, Paul, a well-traveled older artist. Alone in a foreign country, drawn into his orbit and eventually tangled up in his sheets, Frances starts to lose herself in Paul's easy, experienced charm. Yet over the course of three intense weeks, as she discovers more about Paul and the people surrounding him, she realizes that she's caught in an emotional battle of wills that threatens to stifle her voice and crush her autonomy. Coming to terms with what's happening to her and wrenching control from an older man with dark secrets of his own are at the heart of this compelling, unsettling novel.



By turns the story of how a modern woman finds the inner strength to regain her sense of self and a fascinating exploration of the power dynamics between men and women, Paul is a deeply human novel that holds a mirror up to many of the issues that people confront today.

Story Locale: The Pyrenees and rural southern France

Praise for Paul:

"I read this novel in breathless suspense. Lafarge moves deftly between an exterior, idyllic landscape and an interior one of muted menace. A magnetic, atmospheric, razor-sharp work." —Aysegül Savas, author of Walking on the Ceiling and White on White

"This book had me spellbound. In Lafarge’s confident, gauzy prose, a seductive narrative emerges, one that is absolutely absorbing and transporting. Paul is an essential portrait of the toxic power dynamics in romantic relationships, and a beautiful, immersive story about a young woman finding her voice. I inhaled this book." —Aja Gabel, author of The Ensemble

“A beautifully observed debut.” —The Guardian
 
“I cherished this moreish, dreamy, hazy novel... I know I will return many times to inhabit the world Lafarge has written so exquisitely.” —Megan Nolan, author of Acts of Desperation
 
“A work of dark, shimmering genius, which explores the toxicity of patriarchy with excoriating intelligence, verve and originality.” —Rebecca Tamás, author of Witch

“In Paul, Lafarge has written a beautifully balanced novel that shines an uncomfortable spotlight on all-too-common gendered behaviors and the sociocultural contexts in which such behaviors are both permitted and encouraged.” —Hyperallergic

“Lafarge’s prose is faultless. At first glance, Paul is charmingly readable. Look more closely, though, and you’ll find something much, much darker and more sophisticated. Look a little longer and you’ll be so hooked you won’t be able to put it down.” —Betty Trask Award judges