Not Heaven But Paradise - by Michael Mewshaw (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"Mewshaw's sentences sing. His ability to evoke a setting that many will find exotic rivals Graham Greene's, as does the depth of his characterization and his ability to make the reader keep wondering what in the world might happen next. The narrative keeps delivering surprises all the way to the final line. I love this novel." -- Steve Yarbrough, author Stay Gone Days

The son of a Spanish mother and an American father who claimed to have worked for the CIA, Paul Stewart lives in his family home, a carmen in the Albaicín district of Granada. The house, which surrounds a lush courtyard, has foundations that date from Spain's Islamic era and has been in the family for generations.

Struggling to make ends meet, Paul has turned the carmen into an artist's residency that caters primarily to American artists. The only current guests are Simone, a celebrity painter with a sexualized reputation, and an asylum-seeking Algerian professor who is the subject of a fatwa. Paul has been forced to take him in. An African refugee named Blessed, who's been displaced by the arrival of the professor, suffers a crisis of both body and faith as a result.

The relationship between Simone and Paul begins to complicate matters, and suspicions about everybody abound. Murky pasts and private agendas collide with avowed intentions--including those of the U.S. government--as events gather momentum toward an explosive, revelatory finish. In the hands of Michael Mewshaw, a master storyteller, this story fairly shines in our fraught age of political secrets and international terrorism.

Review Quotes

"Mewshaw is deft at creating a story that is not as it appears yet is exactly as it appears . . . a writer who revels in reversals of fortune, and pulls you along only to make sure you do not see what's coming. He has shaped a fast-paced narrative . . . a page-turner, efficient and fun." -- National Catholic Reporter, Diane Mehta

"I gobbled this novel right up with great pleasure. All the characters are strong. It's gripping the masterly way Mewshaw invokes contemporary Spain, the politics, Islam, tourism, real estate. The tone is so ominous, all the while avoiding melodrama and bullfights." -- Diane Johnson

"Michael Mewshaw's Not Heaven But Paradise is nothing less than majestic, among the finest contemporary novels I've read in the last couple of decades. Mewshaw's sentences sing. His ability to evoke a setting that many will find exotic rivals Graham Greene's, as does the depth of his characterization and his ability to make the reader keep wondering what in the world might happen next. The narrative keeps delivering surprises all the way to the final line. I love this novel. My admiration for the book and its author is boundless."-- Steve Yarbrough