Half of Paradise

Toussaint Boudreaux, a black docker in New Orleans, puts up with his co-workers' racism because he has to, and moonlights as a prize-fighter in the hope of a better life - but the only break he gets lands him in penal servitude. J.P. Winfield, a hick with a gift for twelve-string guitar, finds his break into showbiz leads to the flipside of the American dream. Avery Broussard, descendant of an aristocratic French family, runs whiskey after what remains of his land is repossessed...

The interlocking stories of these three men are an elegy to the realities of life in 1950s Louisiana, their destinies fixed by the circumstances of their birth and time. Yet each carries the hope of redemption.

“It's been a long time since a crime novel made me cry. It's been a long time since a crime novel made every hair on my body stand on end. THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN did both - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAYJames Lee Burke has a sophisticated and brilliantly expressed vision of humanity - TLSBurke is the poet of the tortured South and never fails to connect at all levels - TIME OUTNo crime writer in America can hold a pen to Burke's mastery of style and powers of evocation and empathy; this is prose that cuts straight to the heart - GUARDIAN”

It's been a long time since a crime novel made me cry. It's been a long time since a crime novel made every hair on my body stand on end. THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN did both - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

James Lee Burke has a sophisticated and brilliantly expressed vision of humanity - TLS

Burke is the poet of the tortured South and never fails to connect at all levels - TIME OUT

No crime writer in America can hold a pen to Burke's mastery of style and powers of evocation and empathy; this is prose that cuts straight to the heart - GUARDIAN

James Lee Burke is the author of numerous award-winning novels, many featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana.

Toussaint Boudreaux, a black docker in New Orleans, puts up with his co-workers' racism because he has to, and moonlights as a prize-fighter in the hope of a better life - but the only break he gets lands him in penal servitude. J.P. Winfield, a hick with a gift for twelve-string guitar, finds his break into showbiz leads to the flipside of the American dream. Avery Broussard, descendant of an aristocratic French family, runs whiskey after what remains of his land is repossessed...The interlocking stories of these three men are an elegy to the realities of life in 1950s Louisiana, their destinies fixed by the circumstances of their birth and time. Yet each carries the hope of redemption.

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