The way to paradise

A rare study of passion, ambition and the determined pursuit of greatness in the face of illness, death and conservative forces, The Way to Paradise shows a contemporary master at the peak of his powers. 'In Mario Vargas Llosa's latest novel there are two stories - that of Paul Gaugin, the Post-Impressionist painter, and that of Paul Gaugin's grandmother, Flora Tristan . . . what makes this novel so illuminating is the continuity between their parallel lives . . . Gaugin and Flora may have thought they were masters of their own destiny, but this novel powerfully suggests that even that may have been an illusion - like paradise itself.' Literary Review 'The Way to Paradise weaves an extraordinary rich double fantasia around Gaugin's life, strenuously explores qualities in the works, and sets moral issues in a far wilder, more real historical world . . . Riveting stuff, beautifully written, wild, exact, and visually stunning.' Independent