Portraits in Blue

When the opportunity of a lifetime takes Jack Tomlinson to Paris, he is transformed beyond imagining, and experiences the heights of joy and the depths of despair Jack dreads joining his father in the wool brokerage business. Thankfully, the gift for his eighteenth birthday, a trip to London, provides a reprieve from his uninspiring future and promises exciting opportunities for painting the extraordinary city's exquisite landmarks. On the ocean crossing, a meeting with a fellow artist develops into an extraordinary friendship and Jack's mind is expanded as he is captivated by her tales of the modern art movement taking Europe by storm. Jack's conservative values are challenged when he is introduced to the Bloomsbury Set, people committed to authentic lives that are inspired by writing, art and relationships, rather than by social conventions. When Jack is offered the opportunity to study in Paris, he gladly defers the responsibilities that await him at home. Immersed in the joyful bohemia Paris offers, Jack finds a love he'd never imagined, and is spurred to artistic success following introductions to Picasso and Gertrude Stein. Nonetheless, a lifetime of conservative conditioning is not easily discarded, and Jack grapples with his options — to view his European experiences as a temporary aberration, sacrificing his dreams of a life dedicated to art with the woman he loves, or to pursue a life offering only uncertainty, far from his home and family. The Sun Rose in Paris is the first book in the breathtaking Portraits in Blue historical fiction series. If you like well-drawn characters, rich details of the past, and being transported to another place and time, then you'll love Penny Fields-Schneider's alluring journey.

Jack's quest for happiness is thwarted by heartbreak in Book Two of the Portraits in Blue Series As Jack leaps onto the train to Malaga, he has no thought for the responsibilities that await him on the other side of the world. All he knows is that he isn't ready to leave Sofia, the girl who captured his heart in Paris, nor her talented twin brother, Andres. The twins' idyllic farm offers sweeping views of the Mediterranean, days spent painting for the Galleria Toulouse, and the enduring charm of Spanish village life. Even so, the trio's happiness is soon plagued by misunderstandings and complications. Tragedy, heartbreak and declining economic circumstances force Jack and Sofia to leave the life they love and travel across the world to Australia to seek financial security and family connections. There, the heady lure of Melbourne's art world beckons them and they fall under the spell of the charismatic but dominating Justus Jorgensen. Jack and Sofia enthusiastically embrace the visionary's dreams. Tirelessly, they commit to the creation of Montsalvat, an art enclave whose buildings are modelled on seventeenth century Europe, where residents live free from the bonds of social conventions. While the bohemian lifestyle of Montsalvat proves stimulating, Jack is increasingly disturbed when a darker side of Jorgensen's personality emerges. Even utopian dreams have costs. What Jack does not anticipate is that everything he loves will be threatened, with tragic consequences that test his very sanity. The second of the four book Portraits in Blue Series