Road to Paradise

Road to Paradise
Paullina Simons

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?

PAULLINA SIMONS

ROAD TO PARADISE

Copyright (#ulink_02ad9709-eb18-5ab0-9d81-2b3d14c77066)

Harper An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

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.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780007241583

Ebook Edition © MARCH 2015 ISBN: 9780007283439

Version: 2015-03-09

Map (#ulink_1d39eb67-5805-545a-a9e2-d33151b4ff53)

Dedication (#ulink_c68b139c-a3f8-53a4-afad-80425236e549)

For my husband’s mother, Elaine Ryan, from

the time she was twenty, a mother first

Epigraph (#ulink_d14faa00-7234-5b35-a701-3617ba4875c5)

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

Cover (#u75f7a558-bf71-52d0-b527-6f925d542f1d)

Title Page (#u0a24de98-f939-52f4-9219-14d6a677216a)

Copyright (#ulink_5bfbac1a-19bb-5bd0-ab47-5d7acbb9329e)

Map (#ulink_c6c989c8-a89a-5f9b-be5b-f8d83fd38a26)

Dedication (#ulink_0ba9fe1f-7294-591f-8367-da18dc4d5cbf)

Epigraph (#ulink_465c51a4-1dec-5956-9b7c-9a2f9f32a689)

Prologue: “Motel” (#ulink_5fe50883-7977-5575-b3e1-57ca37bfe5d3)

One: The Car

1. Topless Imponderables (#ulink_a6835d67-c039-53ab-893b-aa12687fc600)

2. Emma (#ulink_e0a3037e-bb79-5513-acdb-bafc16de2371)

3. The Gift (#ulink_c7b6e5cb-81cf-5b03-9b57-02c76565e7b5)

Two: Mary’s Land

1. The Pomeranians (#ulink_bc2dc433-9030-5cb3-9035-05a274dad8f5)

2. The Vedantists (#ulink_7dfc65e2-d38b-5387-864b-443b8b384ecb)

3. The Black Truck (#ulink_b12d353e-65a2-5cf7-86e2-3893ad8ac53b)

Three: On the Erie Canal

1. Ned (#ulink_15936123-97fb-512f-b432-10d22b8295b0)

2. The Chihuahuas (#ulink_bdc467e4-54c5-56a4-9664-ac4392dccdcc)

3. Two Todds (#ulink_35f816a5-b638-592d-9235-1be46578d96d)

Four: The Light at Picnic Marsh

1. Candy (#ulink_cd19eb84-5268-5a18-b6e5-0a4dd2bf11b4)

2. The Price of Stamps (#litres_trial_promo)