Painter Man

Painter Man, by Jeff Phelps

Malcolm is the Painter Man, out of step with the art scene but determined to explore his own place in the landscape. He loves his family but, without meaning to, he isolates himself from Alice, the wife who inspires him. When she turns elsewhere for attention she takes their two children and leaves Malcolm to his restless art and his demons.

Hanging by a thread – falling out with friends, in trouble with the law – he strives and fails to keep in touch with his confident, likeable daughter Caroline and his boy, David, an awkward chip off the old block. Recognition by an enigmatic art buyer is some comfort; but it is only when Suzie, a breezy aromatherapist, enters Malcolm’s life that recovery seems possible.

Together they track down the mystery of her London ghosts, and Malcolm sees a chance to free himself from his own nightmare – a long-ago accident in a Black Country steel works. And when Malcolm forges stronger, reconciling links with his son and daughter it is touching and true, prepared for with delicately woven plotting and masterly prose.

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  • This is a thoughtful and profound novel about the mind of a modern artist and sculptor… Ultimately, it is an uplifting story of the reconstruction of a troubled man through love, set against the bleak and sinister beauty of the Black Country. Like his protagonist, Jeff Phelps is an artist. He crafts his words with beguiling simplicity and subtle nuances to build a memorable work of art.
    Clare Morrall
    Booker prize shortlisted novelist
  • This is an astounding novel, for the first few chapters you just watch the protagonist from a dispassionate somewhat disdainful place. But you become wrapped up in this obsessive man’s attempts to capture and shape his life through his art, just as he finds a way to let his art stand alone instead of watching it. It even makes the Black Country seem less grimy! If you really want to get lost in a book and leave it feeling life is rich, get this one. It kicks ass!
    Joy Fillingham
    WhatsOn UK
  • I thoroughly enjoyed this sensitive, captivating novel. If, as I do, you believe in such a thing as an artistic temperament, the overwhelming need some are born with to explore the world through some creative medium, you’ll find this book fascinating and enlightening. It’s set in the Black Country, and the central character, Malcolm, learns skills as a sign-writer and then metalworker which go on to fuel his art. Partly because of this background he comes across as a convincing mix of the worldly and unworldly – he can be insightful and obtuse, can see both more and less than the people round him, often to their frustration. I don’t want to give too much away, but he struggled with relationships and fatherhood in a way that I’ve witnessed personally in friends who are artists. The writing throughout is quiet and exquisite, often with an understatement that serves the more moving scenes ideally. The portrayal of his children, and the role they come to have in his life, is particularly finely weighted. I gained a lot from reading this book and feel very confident in recommending it.
    Mike Fox
    Amazon Review
  • I guess Painter Man became my Summer Novel. I really liked this book, not because it has a gripping plot, characters I cared so much about that I couldn’t put the book down, but because it was simply a wonderfully constructed story. 
    Sarah Crabtree
    Directory – Book Review
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