Sadly, as Darla formulates her plan to escape Paradise, turmoil erupts. Family once more stands between her and her suitcase. Momma runs off with a long-distance trucker, Darla's sister is hospitalized with cancer, her sister's two children are sick with worry, and brother-in-law Frank is thrown in jail--charged with impregnating a neighbor's sixteen-year-old daughter. Left unsupervised, Granny gets into trouble of her own, and Pearl, Darla's fourteen-year-old niece, can't cope with her world. Torn between her love for Spirit, her love for Elijah and young Jesse, her keen sense of duty, and the pursuit of a dream, Darla must, for the first time in her life, cast an unflinching eye on all the hard-to-accept truths regarding love, responsibility, and survival.
The Bingo Queens of Paradise is a tour-de-force first novel that lyrically blends a powerful comic voice with a poignant tale of a woman who longs to escape her life and follow her dreams.