Broken Colors

There is something about the days of an artist that differ from the days of others. This book examines that phenomenon within the prism of colors. It is wistful, yet glorious. Urgent , yet spacious.

Broken Colors is the novel of a talented female artist who must come to grips with the difficult realities of life. Born in England during the first world war and raised by her bohemian grandparents, Sophie Marks learns how to pour her soul into works of art; yet creativity alone cannot bring her fulfillment. After the terrible devastation of the second world war, she flees to Paris and tries to start over. She forms a relationship with a talented Italian sculptor; yet after years pass, what they had gradually crumbles away. She takes flight again, this time to the American Southwest. Brilliant yet isolated, it takes the arrival of someone from her former life to spur her to confront memories of her childhood in England and seek love renewed amid her maturity. Emotional, passionate, and introspective, Broken Colors is the one-of-a-kind tale of a shining life's multifaceted journey.

This portrait depicts Sophie, an aspiring artist growing up in the interwar period in Europe. The novel however spans several decades and two continents with a vivid sense of place and time. A moving tale of what it takes to make it in the art world, Broken Colors is a must read for young artists. However, most any reader may identify with Sophie's personal sacrifice, determination and spirit.

I loved them way she describes the processes of making art, a rarity in literature. The whole, long story of the life of a woman artist moved me, sometimes to tears. Zackheim felt the character's story deeply, and told it beautifully. Joyce Kozloff

LIBRARY JOURNAL "This is a beautiful novel, sometimes comic and always wise. Visual artist Zackheim imbues the novel with her deep knowledge of the art world, from techniques to agents to the world of galleries." BOOKLIST. "With soaring lyricism, Zackheim limns an exquisitely haunting portrait of an indelibly scarred, yet deeply passionate, woman."