The Ascent of Light by Jeff Strange

About the book

World-renowned sculptor Peter Bennett has not created a single piece of significant art in eight years. Estranged from his family, financially and artistically bankrupt, the artist lives a wasted and reclusive life, his muse drowning in glassfuls of Irish whiskey, his mind haunted by an unfinished masterpiece.

After a one-night-stand with a young woman his own daughter's age, a daughter he has not even spoken to in two years, the artist realizes he has finally hit rock bottom. He then initiates a desperate plan that has been shadowing his brain for months, a plan that, once and for all, would ease the financial and moral burdens of his life.

However, the only person who can execute such a plan is a man long reviled by the artist and his colleagues -- billionaire art patron Valentino DiDona. Only too glad to hear what the once great artist has to say, the ruthless old man and his son Carlo listen as the artist describes a business proposal that would redeem his life and make the DiDonas an enormous amount of money. To Valentino, the plan is deliciously simple -- Peter Bennett is worth more dead than alive. An intricate scheme is then put into motion.

Asked to oversee the plan is longtime DiDona friend and associate Ellen Price. Grateful to the DiDonas for her opportunities in life, Ellen proceeds to work closely with the artist. However, through her contact with him, the lonely, unsatisfied threads of her own life are exposed, and she soon realizes she has fallen in love.

As the plan unfolds, Ellen begins to realize the true intentions of her longtime mentor, and finds herself trapped in the machinations of the old man's obsessions to be the sole possessor of what could be the artist's final and greatest work -- The Ascent of Light.

Her loyalties torn now, Ellen rushes to warn the artist but ultimately watches as redemption finally comes. However, in a defiant act of love and rage, Ellen destroys the great work, denying the old man his final victory, and sealing her own fate forever.

About the author

Born in Albany, New York, Jeff Strange has been a musician, singer, and songwriter for nearly thirty years. An accomplished guitar and banjo player, he has traveled throughout the United States and Ireland performing traditional and original music with four CD releases as well as various other lyric and recording credits. Besides being a musician, Jeff has been involved in a wide field of endeavors from managing a chain of retail stores, to managing a fast-paced restaurant, to being a freelance movie critic for a leading arts and entertaining magazine in New York's Capital District.

He now lives outside of Albany with his wife Tamaé, their three dogs and two cats, and the sundry array of creatures that surround their woodland home. They both enjoy the peace and quiet of their cabin in the hills as well as gardening, baseball, movies, and of course, books.

The Ascent of Light is his first novel, and he is currently working on a second based on the legends of the seal people of Scotland and Ireland.