The Syphilis Artist

In a tale of stark colours contrasts and emotions we follow the Norwegian artist Andreas Olav Hansens at times terrible and tragic life as he negotiates his way through his own private hell of blindness and solitude.Obsessed with a girl called Mia Miraja and not sure whether she is real or a fantasy until she appears at the door of his grandfathers house in Southern Norway his life melds into a multicoloured landscape of colours and beauty contrasting with utter darkness and loneliness.In this shattering and beautiful debut novel by Per Olav Verås we see shades of Jerzy Kosinskis The Painted Bird and the truth is brought home that evil sometimes can never be escaped or fixed or forgotten.