Rebecca Finsel, co-author of “Franz Kline in Coal Country” will hold a book signing at 1 p.m. Saturday at Claypool’s General Store, 101 N. First Street, Lehighton. Books will be available for purchase.

Finsel’s book is a revelation about how Kline’s later works were inspired by his early life in Lehighton.

Kline was born in Wilkes-Barre in 1910 and lived in Lehighton until his father committed suicide. Kline’s mother, steeped in poverty with the burden of raising four children, gave up Franz to an orphanage in Philadelphia. She signed a contract that he was to remain there until he was 18 years old, but she was able to get him back when he turned 15. Franz would visit his hometown during summers for five years previous to his release from the orphanage, so he never really severed his hometown roots.

Kline then became an art major at Boston University, where he aspired to become a professional cartoonist. Instead he was steered into line drawing, magazine illustrations, model portraits and landscape art.