"Sharp, unsettling, and emotionally precise." — Gillian Flynn
"Dark and intimate. A stunning debut." — Megan Abbott
"Impossible to put down, impossible to forget." — Jodi Picoult
A lyrical and devastating debut novel about a daughter confronting the truth of her childhood and the mother who exploited her, Paper Wings is an unforgettable tale of survival, resilience, and the reclamation of self.
This novel arrives at a moment of profound cultural reckoning—about children, about exploitation, about the systems that fail our most vulnerable. M. Clair gives those conversations a human face. A daughter's face. A survivor's voice.
Acquired by Penguin Random House | Knopf Doubleday — in a significant deal, PEN-nominated, with excerpts in The New Yorker Summer 2026, this is the rare debut that is both devastating and hopeful, intimate and universal.
