"Wonderfully evokes Nicaragua"s enchanting beauty and the enormity of its loss."--Kirkus Reviews Shattered Paradise is a lyrical, stunning and poignant memoir of survival and quick adaption--as Ileana, alongside with her rooted Roman Catholic mother, manage to break free from a war infected life in Nicaragua, bullying school masters, and a womanizing father whose obsession with women and inner strength manage to carve an unexpected destiny for the two.