Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise

Title: CHARLOTTE FIGG TAKES OVER PARADISE
Author: Joyce Magnin
Publisher: Abingdon Press
October 2010
ISNB: 978-1-4267-0766-7
Genre: Inspirational/women’s fiction

Charlotte Figg’s husband, Herman, unexpectedly drops dead, and a stray dog named Lucky adopts Charlotte soon after. When Lucky brings home the neighbor’s mail, Charlotte thumbs through a magazine and decides to buy a beautiful double wide trailer sight unseen. She sells her house, and she and Lucky move to Paradise…

Or maybe not. Paradise isn’t at all what Charlotte expected. The trailer is an ancient mint green monstrosity filled with raccoons and other nasty varmints. The ceiling leaks. It isn’t level. And the list goes on. When Charlotte contacts the seller, she is basically told, tough luck.

But Charlotte and her new friends, Rose and Asa, are determined to make the best of it. Asa is a handyman and helps Charlotte fix it up some. And Rose encourages Charlotte to start a trailer park softball team for the women. But in the process Charlotte discovers a lot of secrets… but Charlotte has never been good at keeping secrets…

CHARLOTTE FIGG TAKES OVER PARADISE is written by new-to-me author, Joyce Magnin. Written in first person, I quickly got to know Charlotte. The story did drag some in the beginning, and I’ve never been fond of books that begin with death, but by the time Charlotte decides to start a softball team the story starts picking up and I had to keep reading to see what happens and how it ends.

The secondary cast of characters is a motley crew of one-armed heros, tattooed artists, elderly hermits, midgets, and other challenged (in some fashion) characters. It touches on some touch issues. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys first person women’s fiction. $14.99. 400 pages.