Another Peak at A HOOK IN THE SKY

As promised, Friday has come around again and this is another peak at A HOOK IN THE SKY - and again, I urge you, once you're finished here to take a look at the snippets posted by other Boomer authors on their blog: you'll find the links to their blogs listed on the Boomer Lit Friday blog. And I bet you'll be amazed at the variety of writing. This should come as no surprise: Boomer lit, being an audience-centric genre like YA lit, spans across most theme-related genres like romance and thrillers.

One of Robert's paintings, titled Spillover
My book, A HOOK IN THE SKY, could be termed a "slice of life" novel about a retiree-turned-artist. It tells the story of a dashing Frenchman named Robert, who upon retiring from his top level job at the UN, decides to renew with his childhood dream of becoming an artist. He has learned painting from his mother, a School of Paris artist who had her moment of fame back in the 1930s, and his paintings tend to the figural and academic, much to the dismay of his wife Kay who loves contemporary art (she runs an art gallery in Chelsea).

His mother, now widowed and an old lady in her 80s, lives in Paris but upon hearing that he has taken up painting, comes to visit her son in New York, excited at the idea that he is following in her footsteps. She's amazed to discover that Kay, his wife, has shown no desire to see Robert's work. Here's this Friday's peak:



When his mother was fixated on something, she wouldn’t give up. “Kay could be of great use to you and point the way to what sells here in America” she said. “You know, in art as in everything else, it’s a question of marketing. Knowing what people want.”

The next morning she cornered Kay before breakfast. She forced her to ‘come and view’ his latest paintings. Kay arched an eyebrow and followed her into his studio. Robert remained in the kitchen nursing his coffee, in no mood to see Kay’s reaction.

Within minutes they were both back, looking somber. Kay was silent and aloof through breakfast, his mother got progressively angrier.

“Well, why don’t you tell him something!” she exploded.

Robert tried to defuse the situation. “Kay has no wish to say anything, and it’s much better like this!”

His mother glowered and marched out, her white hair bobbing. She slammed the door of the kitchen, an unexpected gesture for such a minute, prim lady. 


This is the book cover for the paperback (by Create Space) - based on my own art work. Do you like it?

 Both e-book and paperback available on Amazon, click here.

PS: Just as I was posting this I realized today is March 8, Women's Day . What could be a better way to celebrate women than to publish this snippet which clearly shows the power of the two most formidable women in Robert's life, his mother and his wife?

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Comments

Michael Murphy said…
The excerpt reminded me of how much I loved the mother when I read A Hook in the Sky. Nice job.
Shelley Lieber said…
Claude, you are a master with both the brush and the pen. I love the way you "paint" your novel. Very vivid imagery and deeply emotional. Thanks for this peek. Can't wait to read the rest.
Courtney Pierce said…
Great excerpt Claude! You capture the mother's protectiveness so well. Can't wait to read this book.
Anonymous said…
Great job on the new cover! I love it. Did you by any chance use Book CoverPro? That's what I use. The picture of the back, spine and front looks familiar to me. This is a good excerpt, and shows that there is a lot of distance between Robert and Kay.
Unknown said…
Claude, I've told you before that I really like your new book cover, but I had no idea it was from your art work!? Fantastic! And very nice choice for the excerpt. Also, it IS Woman's Day! Lovely of you to mention it!
I like the premise of this book -- a man who pursues his passion later in life -- as well as the beautiful cover. Your excerpt definitely makes me want to get to know your characters better. Sounds like a terrific story.
Anonymous said…
A HOOK IN THE SKY definitely has strong female characters. I enjoyed it.
Thanks Michael, and you certainly did a very thoughtful review of it, much appreciated! I just finished your book and it's excellent, very #boomerlit and though it deals with deep problems of loss of a loved one and scary diseases like Altzheimer's, it manages to put it all in perspective - I think it would help a lot of people to come to terms with all these problems, and see aging, loss and illness as nothing more than a natural part of our humanity, not something to avoid but something to live with and even do so with a sense of humor!
Thanks Shelley, so glad you enjoyed the peek...and my painting!
Thanks, Courtney - same here, I can't wait to read your book...I'm constantly amazed how the general level of boomer lit is high and how it easily spans such varied genres!
Thanks, Lynn, glad you like the new cover! But no, I didn't use BookCoverPro, I did it directly with Amazon's CreateSpace, they have a guided system for the cover that is very easy to use. They also provide a broad range of cover art if you haven't got your own, quite useful. In this case I used my own art and could adjust the color of the back and spine to go with my picture - compared to the Kindle cover, I brushed it over with a copper hue and I must say I like it better now than the Kindle cover. But I don't think I'll take down the Kindle cover and change it yet again...Bah, too much work!
Marsha, how nice of you to say...you're not like Kay who hates Robert's academic paintings, LOL! And yes, I noticed it was Woman's Day at the moment of publishing so I quickly added a footnote...Not something you could do in the real publishing world but for a blog, I guess it's forgivable!
Thanks Sandy...well, that premise is drawn from my own life: I ended a 25 year career at the United Nations (in FAO, Rome, one of the UN specialized agencies) as director and then proceeded to turning myself into an artist. My mother is a painter and taught me the art when I was a kid and used to watch her paint for hours! Plus my daughter is a director in a major contemporary art gallery, so that is a world I know very well!

Of course, this is fiction...starting with the fact that the protagonist is a man, I'm a woman, and his marriage has gone to pieces, and mine (touch wood!) is still doing fine after 35 years!
Thanks Sarah - yes, very strong females and you've seen only two of them here. Another couple of women enter Robert's life, including the one he's painted in the nude, the one of the book cover...And things start roaring!
Unknown said…
I definitely like the book cover, and you are a talented artist. I'm sorry I missed the group discussion of "A Hook in the Sky," and I definitely plan to catch up with it.
Oh, Linda, the discussion didn't close when our Goodreads Group moved on to the next monthly read! The thread discussing A Hook in the Sky is here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1131637-reading-and-commenting-a-hook-in-the-sky-our-selected-monthly-read-from

Indeed, once a book has been read, the discussion thread stays OPEN for ALL the books that have been selected. And the selection, as you may know, is done through a poll - be sure to participate in the next one and weigh in on our next read! The polls are set up around the first of every month. This month, starting March 15, I will set up the discussion thread for our next read, Marsha Roberts' Confessions of a Mutinous Baby Boomer - we are currently reading Michael Murphy's Goodbye Emily which turned out to be a perfect example of Boomer lit. Our previous monthly read, surprisingly, turned out not to be Boomer lit at all!

If you're curious, check it out!

The reason all the threads dedicated to our monthly read discussion stay up in that special dedicated folder is that it's our best, most practical, hands-on way to explore the confines of this new genre.