A Fool's Paradise [Paperback]

Nancy Flowers Wilson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nancy Flowers Wilson, a resident and native of Brooklyn, paid tribute to her parents by using their native Jamaica, West Indies, as the setting for A Fool's Paradise.

Nancy attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, where she received her bachelor's degree in mass communications with a minor in journalism. Nancy has been married for seven years to her high school sweetheart. She is an account manager in the affiliate sales and marketing division of Viacom.

Though she enjoys her work, Nancy's true passion has always been writing. One November evening in 1997, Nancy dug out an outline written three years earlier, and the storyline for A Fool's Paradise was spawned.

Nancy is a member of the National Association for Minorities in Cable. NAMIC was founded in 1980 to raise awareness, expand opportunity and shape the future. With its unique focus on the urban cable marketplace, NAMIC educates the industry on marketing approaches, programming interests and operations strategies for our nation's ever-changing cities. Through embracing the challenges of workforce diversity, NAMIC guides industry understanding of this complex issue. She is also a member of Black Women in Publishing and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Her favorite authors include Marita Golden, Bebe Moore Campbell, April Sinclair, Connie Briscoe, E. Lynn Harris, Diane McKinney Whetstone, Richard Wright, Evelyn Palfrey, the late Zora Neale Hurston and James Baldwin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Writers and Poets USA; 1 edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970819102
• ISBN-13: 978-0970819109
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,331,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nancey Flowers is the author of the #1 Essence bestselling novel Shattered Vessels. She also penned No String Attached and A Fool's Paradise, and contributed to Proverbs for the People and I Didn't Work This Hard Just to Get Married. Nancey lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, Michael. She's presently working on the sequel, He's Still My Man.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put the book down!, April 1, 2001

By 

Francoise Isaac (Maplewood, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fool's Paradise (Paperback)

This was a wonderful coming of age story. I particularly loved the charachters and the bonds they shared as friends. The recurring themes of mother daughter relationships, sibling rivalry and lovers quarrels clearly depict realites that exist for many. You will find a bit of yourself in this novel.

This is definitely a page turner and you simply can't wait to get to the ending. You may find yourself rooting for the characters and then changing your opinion of others midstream. Nancy Wilson Flowers definitely leaves you with the desire for a sequel.

A must read!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I just went to the islands and didn't spend a DIME!!!!, July 5, 2001

By 

Regina (GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fool's Paradise (Paperback)

Wilson sent me on an all expense paid vacation that included scenery, exitement, suspense, love and relaxation. A Fool's Paradise was fun to read. I was captured from the very first page. I felt like I knew each charater personally and that I had engaged in conversation with each one. Every person in the book was developed so well. The story and the way it was told seemed so real I wanted to pick up the phone and chastise Donovan; or e-mail Anne-Marie words of encouragement; I wanted to help Nadine get on the right track. Wilson really made me get involved with her characters and want to know how their lives progressed. I am really surprised that this is a first novel for her. I am an avid reader and I can honestly say this is one of the best books that I have read. I have recommended this book to many others and those people are thanking me for it! Like any other vacation, this book excites, engages and leaves you anxiously awaiting the next! (Which I hope is coming really soon!) I am a new fan for life!!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing West Indian excursion!, September 11, 2001

By 

Jamellah Ellis (Bowie, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fool's Paradise (Paperback)

In her debut effort, Nancy Flowers Wilson successfully takes the reader on a vacation to Jamaica and introduces the reader to both the flair and the folly surrounding the lives of the Saunders and Miller families.

Through the lives of Anne-Marie, a young woman destined for success in the medical field; Colleen, Anne-Marie's seemingly soft-spoken and docile best friend; and Donovan, Anne-Marie's boyfriend, Wilson takes on weighty and significant issues such as strained mother-daughter relationships, choosing between career and family, hypocrisy, and honesty and security in male-female relationships. Placing her characters in the most challenging of circumstances, Wilson allows them to make mistakes and grow (or not) over the course of the novel. Some of the dialogue is outright hilarious ("Everyone is a Rastaman deep down inside. You feel me[?] [I]t is up to the individual to recognize his true identity") and at times probing.

The surprises, plot twists, and turns in A Fool's Paradise are endless, always showing up when you think you've figured out what's going to happen next. The novel's ending will leave you with your mouth hung open and, likely, a lump in your throat. You'll close the book understanding how one island can be at once a safe haven and a fool's paradise, depending on the choices we make in life.