Book Fires Passion, Wanderlust for Aruba

Laura Carabello´s book “A Story of Passion in Aruba,” the newly released novel, is generating positive publicity for the island where happiness lives.

Tourists will learn about a side of Aruba that has gone virtually unnoticed: The Colony, a luxurious seaside community developed by the oil industry during the mid-20th century to house its international executive team that ran Aruba´s first refinery operations.

The novel recounts the intimacies of heroine Debra Sheffield as she engages in a passionate love affair with an Aruban native –a dramatic departure from her New Jersey parochial upbringing and the 1960s social conventions imposed upon her.

The author depicts Aruba in its infancy and the inhabitants that shaped its modern culture, now known to millions as “One Happy Island.” Carabello became intrigued by The Colony during her first visit to the island in 1975.

The novel takes a critical look at the era´s interracial, religious and class distinctions, both in the U.S. and the Caribbean. It also provides a rich travelogue of Aruba, including island history and points of interest.