A rare study of passion, ambition and the determined pursuit of greatness in the face of illness, death and conservative forces, "The Way to Paradise" shows a contemporary master at the peak of his powers. "In Mario Vargas Llosa's latest novel there are two stories - that of Paul Gaugin, the Post-Impressionist painter, and that of Paul Gaugin's grandmother, Flora Tristan ...what makes this novel so illuminating is the continuity between their parallel lives ...Gaugin and Flora may have thought they were masters of their own destiny, but this novel powerfully suggests that even that may have been an illusion - like paradise itself". ("Literary Review"). ""The Way to Paradise" weaves an extraordinary rich double fantasia around Gaugin's life, strenuously explores qualities in the works, and sets moral issues in a far wilder, more real historical world...Riveting stuff, beautifully written, wild, exact, and visually stunning". ("Independent").