When young literature professor Bluma Lennon crosses the street, she is struck by a car while engrossed in a collection of poems by Emily Dickinson and dies instantly. Her position at Cambridge is taken over by a young colleague who shared not only a love for literature with Bluma but also a tumultuous affair. One day, he receives a battered book with a dedication from his former lover. Disturbed, he sets off to follow a trail that leads him halfway around the globe. In the process, he is unexpectedly drawn into a world of secret libraries and mysterious readers. "The Paper House" is a witty love letter to reading and books, a virtuoso homage to one of the strangest and most fulfilling human passions.