Book cover of What Strange Paradise

Book description

'Deserves to be an instant classic. I haven't loved a book this much in a long time . . . What Strange Paradise . . . reads as a parable for our times . . . Such beautiful writing . . . This is an extraordinary book.' - New York…

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Why read it?

1 author picked What Strange Paradise as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island.

Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. Only nine-year-old Amir has survived the passage.

He is rescued by Vanna, a teenage island resident who is determined to do whatever it takes to save Amir. At times I recoiled in horror at humanity’s cruelty and indifference. At other times I rejoiced in an example of empathy and hope.

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A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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