Paradise: A Novel

By Sarah Neilan

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312595964
• ISBN13: 9780312595968
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Length: 345 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Well-Written Historical Romance from the Canadian Point of View

This book might be somewhat difficult to get in the US, but more copies are available in Canada. It's worthwhile for Americans especially to get it wherever they can though, because this book will probably open up new territory to U.S. readers. Our American history classes generally make short work of the War of 1812, glancing over it on the way from our Revolution to our Civil War. In fact, when we sometimes say that we're lucky no wars involving opposing nations were ever fought on our soil - we forget the War of 1812 altogether, during which much of Washington, DC, was sacked and burned. However for many Canadians, the War of 1812 remains a defining event. "Paradise" opens with this War under way, threatening the lives of British pioneers coming to settle along the shores of Lake Erie in southern Canada. This will provide a different, eye-opening perspective to American readers because here it is the Americans who are "the enemy." Despite that damage we suffered in Washington, we generally come off as the unjustified aggressors, as fearsome marauders to these early Canadians. The Ontario pioneers often dare not venture far from their cabins in order to avoid being caught off-guard by ragtag bands of American soldiers bent on pillaging, burning, and slaughtering man, woman, and child alike. Although the author of this book is Canadian and takes the Canadian side in that War, her account is historically sound as far as it goes. Written several decades ago, it nevertheless seems particularly relevant to us now in that reading it might demonstrate how much patriotic partisanship can be an arbitrary matter of birth. However, Neilan's story covers more than the period of the War. Her narrative spans the whole period of the settling of southern Ontario, providing a factual backdrop to her fictional characters. Just across the bridge from Detroit, just across Lake Erie from Cleveland, Ohio - this land is so close to us and yet most Americans hardly know it exists. "Paradise" is an engaging way to fill that gap in our knowledge. So many of the people instrumental in the founding of Canada are in these pages, playing their parts. There is Colonel Talbot (after whom so many of Canada's roads are named). He arrived early on the scene, bought up huge tracts of land, then parceled out acreage to new-comers he approved of - those who were of the right religion and had the right credentials. There is Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader who tried to unify tribes against white encroachment. The fictional families here are as interesting as the historic characters. Although "Paradise" would probably be classified as a historical romance, replete with a ravishing and with heroic derring-do, it's no run-of-the-mill "bodice-ripper." The protagonists are not stereotypes. They are complex characters who do surprising things sometimes and whose fates take them to surprising places.

Great Read

I couldn't put this book down. The author really grabs your attention and doesn't let go. My ancestors settled in the same area at the same time as this book takes place. I highly recommend this book.