Diana Stelin

Searching for a Place to Call Home Diana Stelin

Through a poignant past/present narrative this heartfelt and inspiring coming of age novel explores a young woman's integration of a work/life balance through art, and the effects of an artistic life on one's psyche. Isabella is a young émigré from the USSR who discovers her artistic talent as a way to cope with culture shock and escape from her traditional criticizing Jewish mother. Lost and in America, Isabella searches for a true home all over the world for years. She lives in Paris and Rome, ventures out to Australia, returns to Russia in search for her tribe, all the while recording these new locales and her feelings about them with her brush. It is only after losing her passion under the strains of money, romance and indulgence that she realizes that her painting practice has always been her home base, that restorative space of solace, balance and peace. When she finally rekindles her relationship with art, it helps her tackle her damaging relationships, caustic career and the demands of present-day motherhood. Can she redefine her many personas in a way that keeps her soul and art alive, even as she struggles to balance the imperative to create with the desire to sell? As a mother, will she be able to forgive her mother for taking her away from her life at its launch, and reconcile with this most important person in her life? This is a book about escape, sacrifice and difficult choices. In our time of intense struggles to stay balanced, it's a story that would empower any mother, career woman, immigrant to America or creative, an intimate narrative about a soul striving for balance in life, through art.