Description
Still struggling with her toddler brother's death years earlier, fifteen-year-old Nina becomes the subject in a series of nude paintings by her haunted mother and is forced to deal with her burgeoning sexuality in front of a large and critical audience when the paintings go public. A first novel. Reprint.
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At the center of an attic studio littered with paints and portraits stands fifteen-year-old Nina, nude. A canvas separates her from her mother, who perches on a stool, paintbrush in hand. In a desperate attempt to coax her mother out of her emotional seclusion, Nina has offered herself up as a model. The painting, Nina: Adolescence, will mark her mother's triumphant return to the Boston art world and form the centerpiece of a gallery show. But the exposure makes Nina uneasy, and her father begins to protest with increasing vehemence. The family starts to come apart, sending Nina into a tailspin as she recklessly attempts to free herself from a disintegrating household and the confines of someone else's fame. With the tension reaching a breaking point, Nina finds that the gift she gave to her mother is rapidly becoming a sacrifice and could very well serve to be the cause of her
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