A Fool's Paradise

A Fool's Paradise

By Nancy Flowers Wilson

Flowers in Bloom Publishing, March 2001, $14.00, ISBN 0-970-81910-2

Images of sea-salt air and a sky with many moods takes us to Jamaica in Nancy Flowers Wilson's debut novel, A Fool's Paradise. It opens with Anne-Marie Saunders, a premed student at the University of the West Indies, struggling to balance the desires of her heart. "I have three passions: My boyfriend, Donovan...the second is school...the last is my desire to travel to America. As it turned out, one of my passions would be my downfall. The other would do me the most harm, and the third would be my salvation."

Anne-Marie has spent her entire life in Jamaica and is eager to depart from her native land by way of education. It will not be easy to leave her family, especially her beloved father, Trevor, who named her "Star" the day she was born. However, her greatest hold to the island may be her boyfriend, Donovan Miller, a "beautifully bronzed man with his Chinese mother's eyes." The two have known each other since childhood and, though it's been assumed they would marry, it seems inevitable once Anne-Marie becomes pregnant. But it's not just the pregnancy that may put a glitch into Anne-Marie's plans.

At the same time, Anne-Marie's best friend, Colleen, is experiencing her own angst as she struggles to find herself in Montego Bay away from her friends and family.

A Fool's Paradise is an engrossing tale that will keep you turning the pages.

Though it is littered with cliches, and many parts of the story are told through the narration, which does not allow the reader to learn about the characters through their voices, this is still an enjoyable read by a promising new author.