“A deeply informed portrayal of the little-known, important Stars Art Movement.”
Description
Weaving real events and the creative minds that called themselves The Stars, Brushstrokes in Time, is a revealing debut novel by Sylvia Vetta. In Brushstrokes in Time, Vetta takes the reader back to 1963, when Chairman Mao was still presiding over China but takes us beyond the death of Mao and for the first time in fiction shows the birth of the radical art movement, The Stars, in 1979. At the heart of this book is the period which saw the creation of the China we know today. The reader does not need to know anything about China to access this book and find the story of Little Winter (Xiaodong ) a compelling read. Walk in Little Winter’s shoes and at the end of that emotional journey the reader will have learned a great deal about that complex culture and country. At the centre of the novel is the story of Winnie – previously known as Little Winter, a mother describing her life story to her American daughter, pivoting between the past and present, introducing her daughter to loves passed and tragedies experienced - expressing emotions that have not only shaped her life but also in a way, her daughter’s. Live their lives, find yourself consumed by their hopes, successes and fears and cherish a love story as it unfurls.
Pages190
Released2026
LanguageEnglish
PublisherClaret Press
ISBN9781918983630
SellerSimon & Schuster
About the author(s)
Freelance writer, journalist and speaker Sylvia Vetta worked in antiques for many years before taking up freelance writing and broadcasting on art and antiques in 1998, when she began writing features for the award winning magazine of The Oxford Times, ‘Oxfordshire Limited Edition’. She created Oxford Castaways sending over 100 inspirational people to the mythical island of Oxtopia. As a result she has interviewed among others, Sharmi Chakrabarti, Sir Roger and Lady Moyra Bannister, Lord Patten of Barnes the last governor of Hong Kong, prolific writer Brian Aldiss, folk legend Peggy Seeger, Nobel Peace Prize winner (with MAG) the sculptor John Buckley, Sister Frances Domenica, the founder of the world’s first children’s hospice, physicist Christopher Watson, who helped dismantle 220 rotting Soviet nuclear submarines, Lady Carnarvon, the mistress of the real Downton Abbey. Reviewing Everyone’s Life is an Epic, the first one man show by a living Chinese artist to be held at the Ashmolean, she learned first -hand from one of the founding Stars the story of their courage and their dreams. That encounter with Qu Leilei and the epic story he told, inspired her to write this novel. She lives near Oxford with her husband.
