Serpent in Paradise

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

When journalist Eva is sent to the island, her childhood home, to cover the terrible civil war, she has to face her hardest assignment yet: her own history. Eva's past and present collide in the decaying house in which she grew up. Desperate to escape the reminders of her youth she seeks comfort with her lover, Navahiru. Just as it seems she will finally come to terms with her troubled memories, she begins an intense affair with an American colleague, Carl, and her life tips into chaos once more. An electrical storm threatens to ravage the island, passions run high and danger lies everywhere. When Navahiru goes missing, Eva must confront one final, horrifying truth. Serpent in Paradise is a story of sexual obsession at a time of mounting violence and chaos. It is an unforgettable journey.

Reviews

Lyrical descriptions of the island's staggering beauty are juxtaposed with an atmosphere of steamy paranoia, sex and violence. Think The Year of Living Dangerously in literary form. -- Laura Tennant * The Fist Post *
Neatly interweaving [the] strands, West navigates currents of sexual obsession and chaos. -- Hephzibah Anderson * Observer *
A gripping murder mystery and love story... Romantic and intense, written with impressive lyricism. * Eve *

Author Bio

Julian West is a distinguished war reporter. She has reported from Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India for the Daily Telegraph and the New York Times. She divides her time between London and New Delhi, where she was the Sunday Telegraph's correspondent. Serpent in Paradise is her first novel.