Take Me to Paradise

Marilyn wakes up one morning and instead of catching the bus to work, catches the ‘I don’t like Mondays’ flight to Bali. But is she too late to indulge her paradise dream? How many western women have arrived before her and fallen headlong for the lush green island, its exotic culture, and their attractive driver?
.
Set in the artisan hill town of Ubud, Bali, in the aftermath of the bombing that rocked Bali's famed peace and serenity, Jan Cornall’s novel explores notions of paradise and a modern woman’s quest for meaning in an increasingly hostile world.

Travelling the tourist sites with her driver Bagus, after hearing how his life was changed by the bombing, Marilyn has time to reflect on her own life: her marriage break- up, life as a single mother, and the work–life treadmill she has just escaped from.

While her spirit responds to the sensuality of everyday Balinese life, Marilyn becomes aware of a longing for something more: perhaps creative and spiritual fulfillment, perhaps an affair with Bagus. But what of his wife? How can Marilyn even consider entering the same triangular dynamic that ended her marriage, yet how else can she find expression for the deep arousal of mind, body, and soul she is experiencing.

Take Me to Paradise shows how different the paradise dream can be: for a western woman, for a Balinese man, for a Balinese wife, and the many characters Marilyn meets. Cornall reminds us, as the Balinese do, that while the painful events of our lives leave their mark, if we are to go on living, we have no choice but to let them go.