Controversial New Novel Touches Hearts and Gives Courage.

(Irving, Texas) A controversial new novel is touching the hearts and minds of people across the south. Final Portrait by Kellie Sisson Snider is set in 1970s New Orleans, and it demonstrates a strong sense of place. But it also shows a belief in the power each individual has to choose survival or failure.

Final Portrait is the story of two incest survivors who choose very different ways to deal with their tragic pasts. The story is seen through the eyes of artist Kate Breaux who chronicles the events in one of the women's lives in a series of emotionally revealing portraits. Those portraits ultimately lead Kate to her fortune even as they capture the desperate fall of the woman they depict. But it is the other woman, the survivor, who helps Kate find out who she is.

Snider says that she is touched that people have been finding strength in her novel. "It's not a light hearted novel, by any means," she says. "But many people have told me that they've seen my character, Helen, as a role model, in the way she decided that she wasn't going to let her past determine her future. The whole point of the book is that we almost always have a choice in this life. And it's up to each individual to choose wisely. Just because one person has a bad experience and falls apart from it doesn't mean you have to. If Final Portrait can help people find their own inner strength to make the choices that will serve them best, that's more than I could ever hope for."

Snider is doing a series of book signings in Dallas, Texas, and will be doing more in other cities in the months to come. She especially looks forward to presenting her book in New Orleans, where she lived for fourteen years.

Snider was awarded Special Merit in the 1999 Soul-Making Literary Prize contest sponsored by the Nob Hill, San Francisco Branch of the League of American Pen Women for her poem, Broad Daylight. She is an award winning artist, and a public speaker. She can be contacted c/o Kass Arts Publicity, 1001 Gloucester St. N Irving TX 75062-7507, phone (972)650-8456, or by email at "Kellie Sisson Snider". Her web page is at http://kassarts.bizland.com. Final Portrait can be purchased through Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, iUniverse.com and other online booksellers, and it can be ordered through your favorite walk in bookstore. It retails for $14.95.