The Light Possessed - Hardcover

ALAN CHEUSE is book commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and produces and hosts "The Sound of Writing," the Center for the Book/NPR short story magazine of the air. Cheuse is the author of a memoir, Fall Out of Heaven; two novels, The Bohemians and The Grandmothers' Club (reissued in 1994 by SMU Press); and two story collections, Candace and The Tennessee Waltz (reissued in 1992 by SMU Press). His stories and reviews appear in the The New Yorker, Ploughshares, the Chicago Tribune, and other literary venues. He teaches in the writing program at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He and his wife, dancer Kristin O'Shee, make their home in Washington, D.C.

The life of an extraordinary artist, Ava Boldin, from her birth in Nebraska to New York celebrity to self-imposed exile and death in New Mexico, is recalled by the memoirs of many characters (including Ava herself) that have been given to a young woman to organize. Uncertain about the course their own lives will take, she and her husband have come to stay with Ava, and they serve as a conduit through which the artist again achieves fame.In keeping with its subject, the novel is full of painterly imagery that evokes the verdure of upstate New York and the vast barrenness of New Mexico, locations that have been painted by the late Georgia O'Keeffe. Resemblances to the life of Georgia O'Keeffe cannot be coincidental. Women in particular may find this book of interest because it underscores the difficulties of the woman artist - even a great woman artist who chooses her calling before all else. The Ligbt Possessed is a solid, straightforward narrative. It conveys a sense of loss and sacrifice, although, dramatically speaking, there don't seem to be many peaks or valleys - the characters are somewhat dispassionate about the past they recall. Still, it is a well-crafted and very intelligent book that places due importance on art and the passion of its creators to reveal their unique vision. -- From Independent Publisher