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Life for five-year-old Will Ryder is defined by a face left horribly disfigured by fire. Though his English professor father and precocious sister comfort and support him, the mother who abandoned them all can never be forgotten.
Growing up, Will believes that looking at him is what drove her away. When a psychologist urges him to explore his memory of the fire, he chooses instead to suppress its pain and trauma. Will takes up painting for both solace and a refuge from bullying at school, and finds a path that offers a different kind of struggle—to find his own identity as an artist and a man. |
Reviews
Michael French has created extremely original, complicated characters . . . notably an injured young artist and his celebrated mother . . . and woven their story into the fascinating contemporary art scene." - Ali MacGraw |
Michael French's writing is as clear and refreshing as mountain water. |
Michael French's imagining of Wilson Ryder's life is a marvel of humor, sadness, personal drama, and, best of all, the triumph of the human spirit. - Hal Wingo, magazine editor |