Read by Maria McCann

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection. ̃Anais Nin Paradise is a fictionalized story of the author's personal experiences and told through the recollections of Claire... Romance novelist, Claire Leccese writes happy endings for a living but her personal existence is consumed with battling demons-sexual cruelty and the specter of her father's gun. She is plagued by self-loathing and an inability to trust the people who claim to love her, especially Sydney Howard, a beautiful, younger artist. In alternating chapters that shift between the past and the present, Paradise speaks to how Claire's issues of severe trauma tangle with her desire to exorcise the powerful influence of her dead father. At the same time, it reveals the complex realities and delights of coming out as a gay woman late in life and ultimately, allowing herself to find love. At its core, Paradise is a story of the power of the human spirit engrained in anyone with a heart and a soul and who genuinely seeks redemption, transformation, forgiveness, and love. Please read the trigger warnings: This book contains graphic scenes, which may trigger some people, including past and present emotional mistreatment, and implied past childhood incest and sexual abuse

Mode of access: World Wide Web