To Paradise, published in 2022, is the third novel by American novelist Hanya Yanagihara. After the significant critical and commercial success of Yanagihara’s second novel, A Little Life, To Paradise was hotly anticipated; it was a bestseller but received generally more mixed reviews. The novel engages with themes of masculinity, class, and emotional connection and betrayal; it develops these themes within a complex structure including reimagined accounts of American history and a dystopian future in which humanity is imperiled by contagious viruses. Yanagihara is part Hawaiian and grew up between Hawaii and the mainland US, and Hawaiian culture and postcolonial politics play a large role in To Paradise.

This guide references the 2022 McClelland & Stewart edition.

Content Warning: This guide includes discussion of racism, anti-gay bias, and sexual assault.

Plot Summary

The first section of the novel takes place between autumn 1893 and spring 1894, in an alternative version of American history. In this alternate reality, America is divided between the Free States (in the North), the Colonies (in the South), and America (largely the Midwest). In the Free States, marriage equality is legal and accepted. David Bingham lives in a lavish mansion in New York City with his grandfather; he comes from an illustrious, powerful, and wealthy family. David is courted by an older man, Charles Griffith, whom he is hesitant to marry. After a chance encounter, David falls in love with Edward Bishop, a handsome and impoverished music teacher.

The class divide between David and Edward requires them to keep their relationship secret. Edward proposes that the two of them go to California together. This suggestion is risky, as relationships between members of the same sex are not accepted in California. David’s grandfather also refuses to accept the relationship and hires a private investigator to look into Edward’s past, uncovering evidence that Edward may be a conman. Nonetheless, David severs ties with his family and gives up much of his inheritance to move to California with Edward.

The second section of the novel takes place in New York City in 1993. David “Kawika” Bingham is a young Hawaiian man descended from Hawaiian royalty; however, he became estranged from his family when he chose to leave Hawaii. David was raised by his father and grandmother. An extended narrative presented in the voice of David’s father, Wika Bingham, explains what happened in David’s childhood. Wika was a lonely and imaginative child who was raised by a strict mother who fixated on their family’s legacy. Through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, as a child, adolescent, and man, Wika falls under the spell of Edward Bingham, a political activist who dreams of restoring Hawaiian sovereignty. Wika becomes increasingly passive, experiencing seizures and other illnesses. Eventually, Edward becomes obsessed with founding a utopian community on a small and isolated plot of land. Although neither Edward nor Wika have the skills to do so, they try to move there permanently and take young David with them.

Wika’s mother (David’s grandmother) takes David back. At first, David visits his father, but he eventually becomes too angry to do so. After Edward dies, Wika is taken away from the land he and Edward occupied and placed in a psychiatric hospital to receive physical and psychological care. David grows up, moves to New York, and works as a paralegal in a law firm. He begins a romantic relationship with one of the senior partners, Charles Griffith, an older and very wealthy man. David feels conflicted over the power imbalance in his relationship. Additionally, many of Charles’s and David’s friends are HIV positive, and fear of illness is a significant reality in their life. David and Wika’s plotlines converge when David receives a letter from his grandmother explaining that his father is dying, asking him to come see him one last time. It is not clear whether David does so. David goes on to have other significant romantic partners after Charles dies, and he eventually has children.

The third section is set between 2043 and 2094 in a dystopian future America. In 2043, a Hawaiian man named Charles Griffith moves to New York City with his husband, Nathaniel Bingham, and their son David. Charles is a scientific researcher in a prestigious lab attempting to predict and mitigate viral outbreaks. Charles regularly writes to his close friend and former lover, Peter, who lives in England. Charles and Nathaniel’s marriage becomes strained, and David proves to be a rebellious child. Charles advances in his career as new viruses emerge and regular pandemics occur. The American government responds with increasingly totalitarian measures. Charles is involved in the design and planning of containment camps and believes that they are necessary to avoid greater loss of life. However, David and Nathaniel argue that the government is violating individual freedoms, committing atrocities, and possibly leveraging pandemics for its own power.

David becomes involved with an activist insurgency group called The Light. He has a daughter named Charlie, but David and Charlie’s mother are uninterested in parenting, and Charles and Nathaniel end up raising their granddaughter together. In 2066, David and Nathaniel are killed in a bombing in a grocery store; because of his involvement with The Light, David is blamed for the attack. Charles becomes solely responsible for raising his granddaughter. A few years later, Charlie gets sick in another pandemic, and Charles uses his influence to get her the best care he can. Charlie recovers but has permanent cognitive changes as a result of the drugs. Charles does the best he can to prepare her for an independent life. However, after Charlie is forced to drop out of university because of David’s politics, Charles decides it would be best for Charlie to marry someone who can care for her. He finds a husband for her: Edward Bishop, a kind and intellectual man who promises to be good to her. However, Edward is gay and will never experience desire or romantic love with Charlie.

Charlie and Edward marry in 2088. Charlie works as a lab tech in a facility that studies contagious diseases. A few months after they marry, insurgents gain control of America and arrest Charles for his role in designing containment camps. Charles is executed; before he dies, he begs Peter to get Charlie out of America. For the next few years, Charlie lives a quiet life with her husband; she often feels lonely and misses her grandfather. By 2093, it is apparent that a new and deadly pandemic is on the horizon. Charlie finds notes that seem to indicate that her husband is having an affair. She follows him when he goes to an unknown house once every week.

Charlie meets a man named David. David seems to show real interest in Charlie, and the two become friends. Charlie develops romantic feelings for David and is hurt when he seems to reject her advances. David eventually reveals the truth: He works for Peter and has been sent to help Charlie escape America. Charlie is interested in greater freedom, but she doesn’t want to leave without Edward. Days before she has to leave, Charlie approaches Edward at the house where he has been meeting his lover, Fritz. It turns out that Edward has been hiding a heart condition from Charlie and is about to die.

Fritz, Charlie, and David take care of Edward until he dies. Charlie then begins her escape attempt. On the boat that is supposed to smuggle her out of America, Charlie hears someone unknown boarding the boat, and she is uncovered in her hiding place. It is unclear whether or not Charlie escapes successfully.