Barbara Murphy: Angels of Paradise
“Mothers around the world today are often trapped in untenable situations where they have the entire legal system weaponized against them if they try to protect their kids. Angels of Paradise delves into the flaws of the criminal justice system and the quest for moral and spiritual justice.”
“The Hague Convention is not fit for purpose. When it was designed in the 1980s, it was assumed that most of the abducting parents would be fathers who are not very involved with the family. Therefore, the default of returning kids back to their place of habitual residence was supposed to keep families intact. However, this assumption didn’t play out in real life. Instead, the opposite thing happened – most of the abducting parents turned out to be mothers who were desperate to get their kids out of an abusive situation and the authorities were unwilling or unable to help them.
I captured my personal story in my new memoir, Angels of Paradise, after I was released from His Majesty’s Fox Hill prison in Nassau, Bahamas, earlier this year. I spent 5 months remanded there as the only white woman in an all-black prison, awaiting extradition for kidnapping my own son. However, the official narrative that was spun about me up until that time was completely false. The truth was that the entire system was weaponized against me – it was an extremely abusive situation in which I had no rights as a foreigner and a woman.
By the time I was released from prison in late April 2025, I didn’t want to relive the harsh prison experience by writing a book. But everyone I knew kept telling me to do just that. I took their advice because the only thing I had left was my voice. I felt the overwhelming need to tell the truth, to set the record straight, and I felt a responsibility to my son and the girls that I shared the space with to amplify the voices of individuals who are so often sidelined by justice systems. I’m extremely proud of this book because it’s not really about me but about how to maintain courage and hope inside oppressive systems. Angels of Paradise is an extremely cinematic script. I’ve partnered with the award-winning film producer Rowena Sutherland to adapt the book into a television series, and so far, early interest from producers in the US has been extremely high.
Angels of Paradise is topical because it arrives at the intersection of global urgencies, including growing cultural intolerance, rising rates of incarceration, and the erosion of women’s and children’s rights. Mothers around the world today are often trapped in untenable situations where they have the entire legal system weaponized against them if they try to protect their kids. Angels of Paradise delves into the flaws of the criminal justice system and the quest for moral and spiritual justice. Despite their bleak circumstances, the prisoners discover ways to bond despite their cultural differences, forging solidarity in shared struggles and hope for a better future.
Justice is a topic close to my heart, and therefore I made it one of the main themes of the story. Of course, justice here on earth is relative. What’s most important is divine justice. At the end of the day, God is the ultimate assessor of what we do here on earth. My memoir is not only about justice but also resilience and survival, perseverance, and a mother’s unwavering love.
The system as it exists now is broken. I encourage other women to keep telling their stories on all channels so that we can push the needle of change and redesign a framework that is fit for purpose. The Hague Convention – and the rule of law everywhere – must protect the most vulnerable, not embolden predators.”
