Glimpses of Paradise

I picked this up for research purposes as it depicts early 1920s Hollywood. I had not noticed that it was published by Bethany House, but the Christian theme was so evident as I read that I stopped to check who published it. The main characters are well-rounded to a point, and the book defies the in......more

Zenith, Nebraska. June 1916. A postage stamp costs two cents. Woodrow Wilson is President. The Great War looms in Europe. And the lives of two young people are about to change forever. Doyle Lawrence is 17 years old, his life already mapped out for him: attend Princeton, learn to be a gentleman, then......more

We first meet the main characters in Glimpses of Paradise, 17 year-old Doyle Lawrence (athlete and poet) and 16 year-old Zenobia (Zee) Miller (want-to-be movie star), in the spring of 1916 in Zenith, Nebraska. Doyle, fascinated by the unpredictable and colorful Zee, tells his brother later that even......more

This is a Christian book. The heart of it does not make sense in any other context. There is plenty of preaching and the gospel is well explained. There is a romance in this book, but it is not like most romance novels. The book has much more to do with crime and the struggle of the protagonists in a......more

This book was the most intriguing book I've read in a long time. I loved how he showed that the self-drive and ambition to be a Hollywood star happened through a series of compromises so great that the path didn't lead to happiness. He didn't glamorize alcohol, that's for sure. I loved the part abou......more