Paraiso
A Novel
Published on 21. July 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
284 pages
978-1-62872-598-8 (ISBN)
Description
Like a Coen brothers noir south of the border, Paraiso is a genre-bending story about love, sibling relationships, and the dark side of paradise.
Peter and Wendy?their mother chose the names?felt as close as twins, despite their difference in age. As teens, they fled their wealthy Philadelphia home in the family station wagon and headed for Mexico, only to be discovered sleeping in the car on the banks of the Mississippi, in Huck Finn country. Now, many years later, estranged by an apparent betrayal as profound as their family's dysfunction, the two live separate lives, Peter as an editor in New York, Wendy as an edgy sports photographer with a taste for risk. With a new book out and an invitation to Los Cabos, she drives the Mercedes inherited from their father to Baja California, finally completing the trip begun twenty years earlier.
But when the engine fails near a small town named Paraiso?Paradise?she lingers, exploring its underside in an affair with a dangerous man and, all too suddenly, becoming witness to a vicious crime. Meanwhile, in New York, Peter can't help but think of Wendy. When, from his apartment in lower Manhattan, he watches the Twin Towers fall on a beautiful September day, he knows it's time to leave his comfortable life, go find Wendy, and make peace with his long-lost sister. A noirish tale reminiscent of David Lynch and the Coen brothers, Paraiso traces the journey from a mother's dark secret to a place where love, and even perfect love, is possible.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction?novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Peter and Wendy?their mother chose the names?felt as close as twins, despite their difference in age. As teens, they fled their wealthy Philadelphia home in the family station wagon and headed for Mexico, only to be discovered sleeping in the car on the banks of the Mississippi, in Huck Finn country. Now, many years later, estranged by an apparent betrayal as profound as their family's dysfunction, the two live separate lives, Peter as an editor in New York, Wendy as an edgy sports photographer with a taste for risk. With a new book out and an invitation to Los Cabos, she drives the Mercedes inherited from their father to Baja California, finally completing the trip begun twenty years earlier.
But when the engine fails near a small town named Paraiso?Paradise?she lingers, exploring its underside in an affair with a dangerous man and, all too suddenly, becoming witness to a vicious crime. Meanwhile, in New York, Peter can't help but think of Wendy. When, from his apartment in lower Manhattan, he watches the Twin Towers fall on a beautiful September day, he knows it's time to leave his comfortable life, go find Wendy, and make peace with his long-lost sister. A noirish tale reminiscent of David Lynch and the Coen brothers, Paraiso traces the journey from a mother's dark secret to a place where love, and even perfect love, is possible.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction?novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Reviews / Votes
"Chaplin sets the stage for a rowdy adventure story. . . . Fast-paced." ?Publishers Weekly"Chaplin has written a genre-crossing novel based on family dysfunction that becomes darker and more compelling as Peter chases after Wendy and pages turn." ?Booklist
?Paraiso is an atmospheric novel both realistic and rooted in fantasy . . . Chaplin offers a cast of whimsical, imperfect, loveable characters that readers will not soon forget. . . . The momentum of this expertly paced noir fairy tale increases as it nears its denouement. Gorgeous, vivid scenery and fascinating people enrich a story that is both eccentric and universal: how to love and how to handle betrayal. . . . This moody novel combines fantasy, noir and the complexities of every form of love." ?Shelf Awareness
"Paraiso is a unique story about sibling relationships, but Chaplin's writing is centered around emotions that play crucial parts in the human experience, making this book accessible to all." ?Rain Taxi Review of Books
?Paraiso has a story so compelling, so sinuously told and passing strange, you feel like you can't take your eyes off the road for a second. Wonder and dread pull you forward. You need to see what's around the next curve." ?William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize?winning author of Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
?Gordon Chaplin is a brave explorer of the human heart. With his wickedly observant new novel, he leads us from East Coast to West and then south to Baja, where this strange and mysterious tale pulses with life. Paraiso probes the heart of what it is to be a sibling, what it is to know regret, how to take risks and how to forgive."?Joanna Hershon, author of The Outside of August and A Dual Inheritance
?Some will say of Paraiso, ?I couldn't put it down.' But Gordon Chaplin's novel is so good I had to put it down repeatedly?to think, to savor. It's an intricate story, rich in surprises, with passages that are too well written to read just once. Entangling and then disentangling intrigues past and present, it accelerates to a dramatic conclusion on a misty mountainside, closing with scenes that?I promise you?no other writer has ever imagined." ?Jonathan Penner, author of the story collections Private Parties and This Is My Voice
?A misunderstanding between brother and sister evolves through twenty years of separate adventures, from the fall of the Twin Towers to murderous surfing off the coast of Baja California, from a past of American secrets to a present of Mexican tumult and resolution in the heights?delivering you to its hard won Paradise. This is a ride you won't want to miss." ?Bruce Berger, author of Almost an Island
"This book is compelling . . . It's a good read." ?Gringo Gazette "Chaplin sets the stage for a rowdy adventure story. . . . Fast-paced." ?Publishers Weekly
"Chaplin has written a genre-crossing novel based on family dysfunction that becomes darker and more compelling as Peter chases after Wendy and pages turn." ?Booklist
?Paraiso is an atmospheric novel both realistic and rooted in fantasy . . . Chaplin offers a cast of whimsical, imperfect, loveable characters that readers will not soon forget. . . . The momentum of this expertly paced noir fairy tale increases as it nears its denouement. Gorgeous, vivid scenery and fascinating people enrich a story that is both eccentric and universal: how to love and how to handle betrayal. . . . This moody novel combines fantasy, noir and the complexities of every form of love." ?Shelf Awareness
"Paraiso is a unique story about sibling relationships, but Chaplin's writing is centered around emotions that play crucial parts in the human experience, making this book accessible to all." ?Rain Taxi Review of Books
?Paraiso has a story so compelling, so sinuously told and passing strange, you feel like you can't take your eyes off the road for a second. Wonder and dread pull you forward. You need to see what's around the next curve." ?William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize?winning author of Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
?Gordon Chaplin is a brave explorer of the human heart. With his wickedly observant new novel, he leads us from East Coast to West and then south to Baja, where this strange and mysterious tale pulses with life. Paraiso probes the heart of what it is to be a sibling, what it is to know regret, how to take risks and how to forgive."?Joanna Hershon, author of The Outside of August and A Dual Inheritance
?Some will say of Paraiso, ?I couldn't put it down.' But Gordon Chaplin's novel is so good I had to put it down repeatedly?to think, to savor. It's an intricate story, rich in surprises, with passages that are too well written to read just once. Entangling and then disentangling intrigues past and present, it accelerates to a dramatic conclusion on a misty mountainside, closing with scenes that?I promise you?no other writer has ever imagined." ?Jonathan Penner, author of the story collections Private Parties and This Is My Voice
?A misunderstanding between brother and sister evolves through twenty years of separate adventures, from the fall of the Twin Towers to murderous surfing off the coast of Baja California, from a past of American secrets to a present of Mexican tumult and resolution in the heights?delivering you to its hard won Paradise. This is a ride you won't want to miss." ?Bruce Berger, author of Almost an Island
"This book is compelling . . . It's a good read." ?Gringo Gazette
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Skyhorse Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62872-598-8 (9781628725988)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Gordon Chaplin is the author of the novel Joyride and several works of nonfiction, including Dark Wind: A Survivor's Tale of Love and Loss and Full Fathom Five: Ocean Warming and a Father's Legacy. A former journalist for Newsweek, the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post, he has worked on sea conservation with the group Niparaja and since 2003 has been a research associate at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. He lives with his wife and daughter in New York City and Hebron, New York.