Road to Paradise
Love, passion and the road trip of a lifetime in this breathtaking novel, perfect for all fans of Jodi Picoult, from the internationally bestselling author of The Bronze HorsemanTwo girls, an open road and a shiny yellow Mustang; it could have been the trip of a lifetime. But when Shelby and Gina pick up hitchhiker Candy Cane, their troubles have only just started. Inked with flowers and covered in piercings, they soon find out pink-haired Candy is on the run - for reasons so appalling they're almost unspeakable.They should have stuck to their no hitchhiker rule, but it's too late - and Gina and Shelby are drawn into a terrifying game of cat and mouse with no way out. As everything familiar is stripped away and morals are turned upside down, the question is this: how far will they go for a stranger?
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PAULLINA SIMONS
ROAD TO PARADISE
Harper An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2007
Copyright © Timshel Books 2007
The extract from “i walked the boulevard” is reprinted from COMPLETE POEMS 1904–1962, by E. E. Cummings, edited by George J. Firmage, by permission of W.W. Norton & Company. Copyright © 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust and George James Firmage.
Paullina Simons asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007241583
Ebook Edition © MARCH 2015 ISBN: 9780007283439
Version: 2015-03-09
Earth’s crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God;But only he who sees, takes off his shoes
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
And all my former life is seenA crazy drowsy beautiful and utterlyappalling dream
ALEXANDER BLOK
Contents
Four: The Light at Picnic Marsh
Eight: Looking for the Missouri
Eleven: Beyond the Great Divide
3. The Loneliest Road in America
Do what you like, Shelby Sloane, the bartered bride had said to me, smiling like an enigma, just remember: all roads lead to where you stand.
Back then I said, what does that mean?
This morning I knew. It was the morning of the third day I had been trapped in a room, two miles from the main drag of the Reno strip in a place called “Motel.”
I stood alone, broke, and in Reno.
There is one road that leads to Reno from the east—Interstate 80, and in Salt Lake City, Utah, 569 miles away, there is a bellman at a four-star hotel who, when asked if there is perhaps a more scenic route than the mind-numbing Interstate, blinks at me his contempt in the sunshine before slowly saying, “In Nevada?”
But there is another road in Nevada that takes you almost there: U.S. 50, the loneliest road in America.
Reno is in the high desert valley, 4500 feet above sea level, but the highway climbs into the mountains before twisting down the black unlit slopes to the washbasin where the lights are. The town itself is one street, Virginia, running in a straight line between the mountain passes.
On Virginia stands the Eldorado and the Circus Circus; the Romantic Sensations Club; Horseshoe, the 24-hr pawn shop (“nothing refused!”); the Wild Orchid Club (“Hustler’s All-new Girls!”); Heidi’s Family Restaurant; Adult Bookstore (“Under New Management: More Variety!”); Limericks Pub&Grill (Once a young lass from Mamaroneck/Decided to go on a trek …); Arch Discount Liquors; Adults Only Cabaret (Filipino waitresses in Island outfits); St. Francis Hotel; Ho-Hum Motel; Pioneer and Premier Jewelry&Loan; “Thunderbolt: Buy Here! Pay Here! We buy Clean Cars and Trucks!”; Adventure Inn: Exotic Theme Rooms and Wedding Chapel; a billboard asking, “Is Purity and Truth of Devotion to Jesus Central to your Life?” and “Motel.”
