"Wonderfully evokes Nicaragua's enchanting beauty and the enormity of its loss."--Kirkus Reviews
"Descriptive and compelling, Shattered Paradise brings the reader to this magical land, its folkloric culture and its diminishing wildlife." --Maria Beltran, Readers' Favorite
SHATTERED PARADISE is a lyrical, stunning and poignant memoir of survival and quick adaptation--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. Araguti brings to light the world of childhood in all of its innocence, curiosity and strength. Araguti, child number eight and sister to perhaps over twenty other unknown siblings, grew up happy and a dreamer amid the cloud rain forest of her isolated farmhouse and the mystical life of a small town, City of Mist. Until, the revolutionary war that came soon after the defeat of the forty year Somoza Dynasty, came to her door and the abrupt loss of the veil from innocent childhood revealed to her a hopeless and disappointing world, where her parents also lacked immunity: a relentless praying and weeping mother, a diminishing family and the endangering of the cloud forest and wildlife that saw her grow. Araguti came to the United States at the age of 12 and never had intentions of returning to her native land. However, after twenty-one years, she returned and discovered a country different from the one she left behind. Thus, the birth of her memoir blossomed into stories of inspiration, healing and self-discovery. Araguti's recount is passionate and of the pure kind. It offers a unique perspective of the war, its effects on the civilians and the richness of the culture. Araguti resides in California. She's an educator, a wife and a mother of a son and a daughter.