Kossoff spent the remainder of his life campaigning against drugs. He also retold dozens of Old Testament and Apocrypha stories in Bible Stories (1968).įollowing the death in 1976 of his son Paul, guitarist with the band Free, Kossoff established the Paul Kossoff Foundation which aimed to present the realities of drug addiction to children. His best known book, also a television series, is The Book of Witnesses (1971), in which he turned the Gospels into a series of monologues. He was also well known for his story-telling skills, particularly with regard to reinterpreting the Bible. His best known television roles were the hen-pecked husband Alf Larkin in The Larkins, first broadcast in 1958, and a Jewish furniture maker in A Little Big Business. Kossoff started working in light entertainment on British television in the years following World War II. In its obituary of David Kossoff, The Scotsman wrote how he was 'a man of deep convictions and proud of his Jewish origins'. He a Kossoff was born in London, the youngest of three children, to poor Russian Jewish immigrant parents. Telling this story of passion in family and in art, the author, an artist herself, makes both come vibrantly alive.Kossoff was born in London, the youngest of three children, to poor Russian Jewish immigrant parents. The terrain is confounding, where people searching for truth have learned to practice the art of illusion. In the struggle to find her way, Sonata encounters family secrets long concealed and later, one that tears open their lives, exposing the lies that have sustained them.Īs each member of this shattered family finds a path to move forward, art itself-the urgency to create-is revealed as a force of its own. There she is betrayed by her artist/lover and comes to feel used, like Irene, a nude model posing for others to take what they want.

Sonata at age 18, lacking purpose of her own, is drawn to the mystique of her father in his world of artists and models. His wife Ruth defends her husband’s distance and tolerates his infidelities for the sake of their daughter. Here, Bert Kossoff teaches painting when he is not cloistered in his studio. The novel is set in and around the iconic Art Students League in New York City where 20th Century stars of the art world studied and taught.

Small Town Is a World by David Kossoff