A Hollywood film crew upends life in an idyllic California village in this prequel to the Carson Springs trilogy.


In the late 1950s, filmmakers descended on Carson Springs to shoot the movie that made this sleepy Spanish mission town famous. A plaque commemorates the filming of Stranger in Paradise, but nowhere does it mention Cora Delarosa, whose life changed forever when Hollywood arrived. Barely thirty, but married for over a decade, she does not realize that her marriage is falling apart until she meets the handsome and charming film director Hank Montgomery. In this novella, Eileen Goudge sets the stage for her Carson Springs trilogy, showing that in this small town, passion, heartache, and long-buried secrets have always been a way of life.

This ebook features excerpts from two of the Carson Springs novels, favorite recipes from Eileen Goudge's own kitchen, and an illustrated biography of Goudge including rare photos from her personal collection.

Eileen Goudge (b. 1950) is one of the nation's most successful authors of women's fiction. She began as a young adult writer, helping to launch the phenomenally successful Sweet Valley High series, and in 1986 she published her first adult novel, the New York Times bestseller Garden of Lies.


She has published fifteen novels in all, including the three-book saga of Carson Springs, Thorns of Truth-a sequel to Gardens of Lies-and 2012's The Replacement Wife. She lives and works in New York City.