num_pages: 318
description: Four young women are brutally attacked in a convent near an all-black town in America in the mid-1970s. The inevitability of this attack, and the attempts to avert it, lie at the heart of PARADISE. Spanning the birth of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, the counter culture and the politics of the late 70s, deftly manipulating past, present and future, this novel of mysterious motives reveals the interior lives of the citizens of the town with astonishing clarity. The drama of its people - from the four young women and their elderly protector, to conservative businessmen, rednecks, a Civil Rights minister and veterans of three wars - richly evokes clashes that have bedevilled American society: between race and racelessness; patriarchy and matriarchy; religion and magic; freedom and belonging; promicuity and fidelity. Magnificent in its scope, PARADISE is a revelation in the intensity of its portrayal of human complexity and in the sheer force of its narrative.
language: English
title: Paradise
titlecomplete: Paradise
genres: Literature, Classics, Literary Fiction, Feminism, African American, Novels, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Race, Contemporary
ratings_count: 26360
series: Beloved Trilogy
awards: awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Shortlist, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Ohioana Book Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Dublin Literary Award
category: Shortlist
publisher: Vintage