Judith Peck’s novel, Naked Under the Lights in the genre of literary fiction, is about family dynamics and the creation of art. It is centered around the Art Students League in New York City. It is to be released October 29th by Black Rose Writing.
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https://www.blackrosewriting.com/literary/nakedunderthelights
The novel is set in and around the iconic Art Students League in New York City where 20th Century stars of the art world studied and taught. Here, Bert Kossoff teaches painting when he is not cloistered in his studio. His wife Ruth defends her husband’s distance and tolerates his infidelities for the sake of their daughter. Sonata at age 18 lacks purpose of her own but is drawn to the mystique of her father in his world of artists and models. There she is betrayed by an artist/lover and comes to feel used like Irene, her father’s lover, a model posing for others to take what they want.
In the struggle to find her way, Sonata encounters family secrets long concealed and later, one that tears open their lives, exposing the lies that have sustained them. As each member of this shattered family finds a path to move forward, art itself—the urgency to create—is revealed as a force of its own. The terrain is confounding, where people searching for truth have learned to practice the art of illusion. Telling this story of passion in family and in art, the author, an artist herself, makes both come vibrantly alive.
REVIEWS
A complex, moving story about the raptures and haunting price of the creative life. A rich depiction of the tangled ties of love, art, and family.
Kirkus Review
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Peck has wonderful characters, excellent dialogue, a strong understanding as to what makes a scene and a real sense of how to pace a story. Judith Peck’s insight into the art world and what makes such talented people tick is one of many reasons this novel is so unique.
Terri Valentine,
Award winning author of 12 novels
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A complex and compelling novel.
Judith Peck leads us through a family whose dominating figure is a driven artist and the heavy cost of such dedication.
Janet Burroway,
Author of Writing Fiction and Raw
Silk and other novels
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Judith Peck’s latest novel, Naked Under the Lights is a remarkable achievement. I could hardly put the book down and read it through the night. For over 50 years I belong to a college club book group, and this is one of the best novels I have read.
Barbara Stein
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With the Art Student League as a backdrop, this novel centers on the Kossoff family, their fractured illusions of each other, and how passion binds them together. Bert is the figurehead around which the story revolves, and his tenuous relationships between his family and his models reverberate throughout the book…The author is an artist herself, familiar with the industry’s ins-and-outs, and brings that authenticity to the novel…Readers are easily immersed in this world of passion and hard work.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review of Books
Gabriella Tutino
Imagination Arts Publications
PO Box 103
Mahwah, NJ 07430
E-mail: iapbooks@optonline.net
