Ayla's Paradise

Set on the U.S. Island Territory of St. Croix and in the Eastern Unites States, Ayla's Paradise is the story of Ayla Walker Johnson -- a woman very much acquainted with adversity. The book explores how she overcomes that adversity and triumphs to provide a better life for her children. At age nine, Ayla's mother dies. She learns the hard way how to cope and become a nurturer, "mother," and caretaker of her younger siblings. Later in life, she finds true love with the man she calls "my beloved." He is the father of her three children. At times she is feisty and threatens to pluck out the eyes of the woman who would dare to take her husband. She feels insecure when she's rejected by a college sweetheart. But she is passionate when scorching her husband with the island fire of their erotic lovemaking.

Esther Slade Esther Slade was born and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands. At an early age, she left the Islands to attend college on the U.S. Mainland. She earned a B.A. degree in English from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut. She has written fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Her article, Strength for the Single Parent appeared in the Contemporary Christian Magazine, Message. She resides in Florida and is the parent of three children and the guardian of one niece.