What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown is a compelling mystery-thriller with layers of historical fiction, set in the mid-1990s, right at the edge of the digital revolution.
At its heart is Jane Williams, a seventeen-year-old girl raised in isolation by her father, Saul, in a remote Montana cabin. After losing her mother in a tragic accident, Jane grows up homeschooled, cut off from the outside world except for rare visits to a local bookstore. Her father, a brilliant but paranoid man obsessed with the perils of technology, is determined to shield her from what he believes is a dangerous and dehumanizing society. But everything changes the day Saul brings home an IBM computer.
Curious and resourceful, Jane teaches herself how to use it, and suddenly the world she’d only glimpsed begins to crack open. When her growing restlessness leads to a failed attempt to join Saul on one of his outings, she finally escapes, making her way to San Francisco, alone and unprepared, but determined to live freely.
This novel is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a chilling portrait of survival, control, and what it means to truly live in a world on the brink of technological transformation. Brown paints a tense, atmospheric picture of a girl raised in captivity, learning to navigate both physical freedom and emotional independence. As the story unfolds, it grapples with big questions about trust, fear, and the line between protection and imprisonment.
What Kind of Paradise is both intimate and sweeping, a beautifully written exploration of what happens when we step beyond the boundaries set by those who love us most. It’s one of those stories that lingers after the final page, especially for readers drawn to psychological depth and rich historical context.
