The Wisdom of Sage

A humorous and picaresque romp through life and loves of a young bastard expelled from art school. The book is set in 1980s Britain, Paris and Istanbul.

Quentin Sages life is humdrum and routine. He is working in a firm decorating religious tracts sold to developing countries.
His partner Jane has her first exhibition coming up, and is moving towards artistic success which exacerbates his discontent.
In New York we meet Martin Phillips, Sages natural father, where he has signed up a pop group with which he plans to make his fortune. Martin is a rogue and a chancer, but this characteristic enables him to make the wherewithal eventually to provide for his wayward sons salvation. Martin is on the up-and-up and starting to mix with the rich and the powerful in show business.

Sage is convicted of kerb crawling, although he is not guilty. His Grandfather dies and then staying with a friend makes him aware that people in a conventional family are no happier than himself. He sets off to travel.

Martin has a drugs crisis with his group and Sage travels to Istanbul via Paris where he explores drugs and religions, and returns to painting. Jane is painting from the head for profit; Sage finds he is painting from the heart. He is discovering his true self through a fusion of art and religion.

The book vividly captures the ethos of life in the 1980s before computers and mobile phones, and the difficulties of establishing relationships in a heathen world. It also opens up some of the falsities of the art world.

This book will have you laughing and crying together and the juxtaposition of humour and pathos make it an enchanting read.