On February 18, at 2:00PM, French-American author Elsie Russell will be discussing and signing her novel In Over Her Head at the Sanibel Library, Sanibel, FL.
Sanibel, FL — "I began In Over Her Head as the smoke settled from the collapse of the Trade Towers across the water from Brooklyn where I was living, and an age of fear and suspicion dawned over us all." Her novel, In Over Her Head is a coming of age story about a young composer who stumbles into a world of dazzling artistic misfits and becomes trapped in their schemes. "The focus of the book is art as a healer, destroyer, and its use by manipulators to positive or negative outcome, regardless of the cost to the artist."
The debut of Penny Bell's musical composition, featuring the use of mysterious extremely low frequency waves takes a tragic turn when several concert-goers die in their seats during the performance. The once-bright horizons of Penny's career collapse, and she retreats to a dank Soho basement apartment lit only by the glow of computer monitors and electronic displays. There, using herself as a guinea pig, she sets out to unlock the secrets of her beautiful and deadly symphonies. A series of strange coincidences intrude upon her solitary quest. Her neighbor, the erotic performance artist Ula Nova disappears after her studio is broken into. And then Ula's charming and damaged young choreographer appears and sweeps Penny off to Europe to search for the diva, plunging Penny into a seedy and unfamiliar world of jet set artists and international intrigue where the threads of every encounter always seem to lead back to those ELF waves and their pint-sized progenitor.
Her life experience from a bohemian upbringing with her artist parents in Europe and the states provided much of the material for this novel. Russell talks about her parents, "My mother Andrée, a Beaux Arts graduate, frequented the postwar Paris avant-garde art scene with her photographer brother Robert Déscharnes where she met Alfred Russell, then a rising star abstract expressionist painter, soon married him and had me. My uncle, Robert Déscharnes went on to become famous for his art books and life-long friendship and collaboration with Salvador Dalí. From the start I was dragged around with the rolled up canvases until deposited for high school in Rome at St Stephen’s, a prep school warehouse for jet set kids where I got a great education with my disaffected aristocratic classmates. Summers were often in Cadaquès, Spain, with my cousins and Dalí and his colorful entourage. Later, while struggling in New York as a painter, I met my spouse Jeff Harrington, Juilliard trained composer and software architect, exposing me to yet another facet of the creative world."
Russell explains how her life story drove the narrative, "Growing up among the highest ranks of the art world in the entourage of Salvador Dali and other world art stars, I was often shocked at the way movers and shakers wielded their power over the artists they tended and depended on, and a coming of age satire from the point of view of an ingenue thrown into their midst seemed the only way to approach the topic. In the face of things at the time, using humor as an integral element to this techno-thriller was a natural choice, and makes the book that much more enjoyable."
In Over Her Head is actually more farce than thriller. Who is the carnival master of this hall of mirrors? Is it her nemesis the anally propulsive abstract painter, the kick boxing hentai porn entrepreneur, the drug dealing rock star wannabe with the bling-obsessed sister, or are they all pawns in a larger game? How can she free herself from the encroaching grasp of these predatory forces? These are the questions composer Penny Bell must answer.
Russell moved to Sanibel Island in December 2007 and has been a full time resident since then. Her spouse, Jeff Harrington, has been coming to Sanibel since 1967. She explains about her decision to leave New York City after living there for 20 years, "Sanibel to me is paradise. Its natural beauty, relaxed social clime and fantastic weather can inspire any artist to do their best work. And New York has completely changed. Even before 9/11 and the economic downturn, artists were fleeing the city because of the high cost of living. It's hard to see how New York can continue to be a cultural center without an abundance of artists of all types."
Publishers Weekly said about Russell's debut novel, "...overall the book has the feel of fitting tightly into a niche, like a black-and-white avant garde film exploring light and shadow as much as human nature."
Elsie Russell will be delivering a presentation about the themes and characters in her novel, the writing process, and signing copies of it at the Sanibel Public Library, 770 Dunlop Road, Sanibel, FL 33957 (Tel: 239.472.2483) beginning at 2:00pm. For more information, visit the author’s website at www.elsierussell.com. In Over Her Head is available for purchase at all the Sanibel Island book stores and online at Amazon.com.
Press inquiries, contact: jeff@parnasse.com Press release from: Parnasse Press RE:ISBN 978-1435722279