Debut Novel Portrays Angst of Youth With Female Artist and Male Muse

Online, July 9, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Purpleferns Press released Sarah Lane's The God of My Art: a Novel in trade paperback and eBook editions June 14, 2013. It was a quarterfinalist for the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and reviewed by Publisher's Weekly.

"The novel's title is a twist on the traditionally female muse or goddess of art," said Lane (sarahlane.ca). "It explores the protagonist's obsession with her lover as her source of inspiration in becoming an artist and for creating art." The novel is set in British Columbia: the main character grows up in Prince George and an imaginary northern town, and the story takes place in Vancouver as the city wakes up to the fact that marginalized women have been disappearing from the downtown Eastside.

Publisher's Weekly summarizes the novel as "divided into three sections, Red, Blue, and Yellow. There are two major stories: Helene's relationship with Matthew, a mountaineer-philosopher who's into older women and Nietzsche; and Helene's underprivileged background with her prostitute mother and biker father. In the contemporary story, Helene and Matthew's relationship really takes off during a high and naked moment in a self-made steam hut in the woods. Soon, however, Matthew leaves to study in Japan; the novel follows Helene's process of moving on from the relationship. Since her childhood, Helene has aspired to be an artist, but her mother stifled her talent and ambitions. Now, though, can Helene reconcile her studies with her dreams?"

"This is a wonderfully written story, has a strong cast of lifelike characters and a gripping, quick moving plot line," says the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Expert Reviewer. "There is also wonderful descriptive language used that makes the storyline more powerful and real for the readers. This is a book that once you start it would be hard to put down."

Arno Rosenfeld from The Ubyssey writes, "The God of My Art is at its heart a charming read. There is something about it that envelops the reader, sitting them right next to the tortured Helene.... But be warned: Lane's prose has a tendency to gently lure you into reading the book in one sitting."

Lane also writes short fiction and poetry, including stories featured in The Antigonish Review and Roar Magazine and poems in Quills Canada Poetry Magazine. To learn more, please visit: sarahlane.ca.

The God of My Art: A Novel can be purchased from Amazon in trade paperback and on Kindle, Kobo, and iPad.

For interview requests and review copies please contact Sarah Lane at [email protected].