content: Stone takes the reader on a fascinating journey recapping Vincent Van Gogh's life of hardships and triumphs in his biographical novel Lust for Life. Beginning in London, the author reveals Vincent's inner core as a young man of twenty-one working as a clerk for European art dealers while falling madly in love with a vivacious nineteen-year-old kindergarten teacher. Vincent's reaction to this unrequited relationship establishes a pattern of behavior and insight into his personality, which makes him more empathetic as a character. Vincent leaves London and embarks on journey in search of his "true calling" and ends up as a minister living in abject poverty in a Belgium miners' village. This situation strengthens his character and weakens his faith, but out of that grows a passion for art and drawing. The obsession begins and so does his real journey. This book is well worth reading.