Paradise

Consolata (Connie) wakes alone in the basement wine cellar, disappointed to still be alive. She grieves Mary Magna/Mother Superior. In 1925, Mother Superior took three abandoned children (including Connie, age nine) off the street in Brazil, where she and other American nuns worked in a hospital. She later brought Connie with her to the Convent “for Indian girls” (224) in the US. For 30 years, Connie was devoted to God and diligent in her duties. This is until she encountered Deek Morgan in 1954 on a trip with Mary Magna to the pharmacy in the newly founded Ruby. Two months later, they began a secret affair. Deek was 29, 10 years younger than Connie, and already married. Eventually, Deek stopped coming. One day Soane, pregnant, comes to the Convent to confront Connie. After the confrontation, Connie swears off Deek and repents in the chapel. From then, her eyesight worsens, failing in the light but best in the dark. Meanwhile, the Convent closes, leaving only Connie and Mother Superior.

Lone DuPres finds Connie, at 49 years old, fainting in the garden from a menopausal hot flash. Lone and Consolata are friends, despite Lone’s practice of magic and Consolata’s Catholic upbringing.