A woman flees her evangelical family to settle in quirky Venice Beach—but a homecoming awaits—in this glorious new novel by the author of The Hallelujah Side.
Francine Ephesians Didwell has been living two separate lives: one with her evangelical, charismatic family, and another with her lover in a state of emancipation and rebellion. Now, after she loses the love of her life, a bereaved Francine relocates to Venice Beach, California, to start her life over. She struggles to make a living working as a masseuse and managing low-end properties, while gradually reconnecting with her family, whose estate lies just fifty miles inland.
As this painfully hilarious novel progresses, moving back and forth between these two very different settings, Francine discovers she must confront the truth about her family’s dark secrets or lose herself in the suicidal world of drugs. But thanks to her good fortune, throughout her journey, she is assisted and supported by her other, found family: the yodeler, the sex worker, the local burglar who has taken up residence outside her window, and all the imperfect characters from the mean streets of Venice Beach.
“Huffey’s empathy for her protagonist is tangible.” —Kirkus Reviews
Acclaim for The Hallelujah Side
“A funny, heart-warming novel . . . Remarkable . . . Poignantly humorous.” —Publishers Weekly
“Brimming with humor and wisdom . . . An infinitely fascinating and memorable novel.” —Connie May Fowler, author of Remembering Blue
Genre: Literary Fiction
Francine Ephesians Didwell has been living two separate lives: one with her evangelical, charismatic family, and another with her lover in a state of emancipation and rebellion. Now, after she loses the love of her life, a bereaved Francine relocates to Venice Beach, California, to start her life over. She struggles to make a living working as a masseuse and managing low-end properties, while gradually reconnecting with her family, whose estate lies just fifty miles inland.
As this painfully hilarious novel progresses, moving back and forth between these two very different settings, Francine discovers she must confront the truth about her family’s dark secrets or lose herself in the suicidal world of drugs. But thanks to her good fortune, throughout her journey, she is assisted and supported by her other, found family: the yodeler, the sex worker, the local burglar who has taken up residence outside her window, and all the imperfect characters from the mean streets of Venice Beach.
“Huffey’s empathy for her protagonist is tangible.” —Kirkus Reviews
Acclaim for The Hallelujah Side
“A funny, heart-warming novel . . . Remarkable . . . Poignantly humorous.” —Publishers Weekly
“Brimming with humor and wisdom . . . An infinitely fascinating and memorable novel.” —Connie May Fowler, author of Remembering Blue
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Rhoda Huffey writes like an angel who saw what happened in the garden and still remained an optimist. On each page of Francine Didwell's story there is an original joy, many times rescued from the powers of her religious family and many from Francine's amazed view of the world. At times her empathy feels like X-ray glasses and all the ordinary things in her teeming cosmos of Venice Beach glow. She can hear her dog's thoughts and her cat is her AA sponsor. This is a special book. With all its signs and wonders, there is tap dancing too." - Ron Carlson
"Rhoda Huffey writes with an unforgettable voice - astringent, funny, ironic and whimsical. This voice is perfect for 31 Paradiso. Her subject is the crazy quilt of humans in Venice, California, and the human condition as seen through the lens of overpriced real estate and middle-aged passion. Jesus, of course, is never far from the action. Reading 31 Paradiso is like hearing a great story from an old friend." - Mark Childress
"31 Paradiso is so filled with energy, the pages fairly crackle. A story of revelations, told with enormous vim and vigor, pain and wisdom, wit and wildness, (and also, shuffles and heel rolls.) The first great American tap-dancing novel!" - Karen Joy Fowler
"I think Rhoda Huffey has invented a whole new kind of narrative prose. Each sentence is an unforeseeable surprise. She's got a new way of tracking how it feels to be a living person, minute-to-minute - in particular how it feels to be this person Francine Didwell, fresh-arrived in Venice Beach, California. To live in Venice is, itself, wonderfully distracting. But it's super-distracting just being Francine Didwell, a tap dancer and a philosopher and a perpetual pilgrim, who, in her gypsy life in a beach town, will survive on her own inner stores of compassion and irony." - Louis B Jones
"You will be puzzled. You will say Huh? You will giggle. You will crack up. You will start to know who Francine Didwell is. You will hold her in your hands till the end. You will know the very original company you have kept in reading 31 Paradiso." - Michelle Latiolais
"Rhoda Huffey writes with an unforgettable voice - astringent, funny, ironic and whimsical. This voice is perfect for 31 Paradiso. Her subject is the crazy quilt of humans in Venice, California, and the human condition as seen through the lens of overpriced real estate and middle-aged passion. Jesus, of course, is never far from the action. Reading 31 Paradiso is like hearing a great story from an old friend." - Mark Childress
"31 Paradiso is so filled with energy, the pages fairly crackle. A story of revelations, told with enormous vim and vigor, pain and wisdom, wit and wildness, (and also, shuffles and heel rolls.) The first great American tap-dancing novel!" - Karen Joy Fowler
"I think Rhoda Huffey has invented a whole new kind of narrative prose. Each sentence is an unforeseeable surprise. She's got a new way of tracking how it feels to be a living person, minute-to-minute - in particular how it feels to be this person Francine Didwell, fresh-arrived in Venice Beach, California. To live in Venice is, itself, wonderfully distracting. But it's super-distracting just being Francine Didwell, a tap dancer and a philosopher and a perpetual pilgrim, who, in her gypsy life in a beach town, will survive on her own inner stores of compassion and irony." - Louis B Jones
"You will be puzzled. You will say Huh? You will giggle. You will crack up. You will start to know who Francine Didwell is. You will hold her in your hands till the end. You will know the very original company you have kept in reading 31 Paradiso." - Michelle Latiolais
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