Twain and Stanley Enter Paraduse follows famed 19th century journalist-explorer Henry Stanley, his wife, the painter Dorothy Tennant, and Stanley's long friendship with Mark Twain, as they venture to Cuba in search of Stanley's father. Told through a fictitious manuscript and imagined correspondence between Stanley, Tennant, and Twain, Hijuelos captures not only the general style of educated 19th century, but manages to pull off the seemingly impossible task of channelling Mark Twain himself. The manuscript - in the works for decades - was found, whole and finished, by Hijuelos's widow after his death.