A successful Hollywood couple decides that if life is structured like a movie, then why shouldn’t the last act be spent indulging themselves in the hopes of realizing any leftover dreams? So the couple sells their house, pack up all of their belongings, and together with their large black standard poodle, Guido, and twenty-two boxes start their last act by deciding to go merrily on their way to no place in particular until they find paradise.

Their first stop is Skiathos Island, Greece. What ensues is a comedy where these two Hollywood types are forced to deal with the Byzantine labyrinth of Greek bureaucracy, the peculiar Hellenic version of time, and a complete host of new challenges such as the neighbours’ goats who insist on eating their newly planted English roses.

In the process the couple learns to appreciate and treasure the innocence and the generosity of the people of this small island and learn things about themselves that they had long forgotten in the pace and glitz of Hollywood. Paradise indeed.

Shortlisted for the International Rubery Book Award 2012