Paint It Black

Janet Fitch reads a selection from Paint It Black, in which teen runaway turned art model, Josie Tyrell meets her fiancé's mother, Meredith Loewy, a concert pianist who disapproves of her son's lifestyle. (Running Time: 12:28)

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The aftermath of a suicide, set in 1980 punk rock LA. Josie Tyrell, art model, teen runaway, actress in student films, thinks she's found her chance at real love and entre to a greater world in Michael Faraday -- artist and Harvard dropout, son of a renowned concert pianist and grandson of a legendary film composer -- until the day she receives a call from the Los Angeles County Coroner, asking her to identify her lover's body.

"What happens to a dream when the dreamer is gone?" is the central question of Paint It Black, the story of the aftermath of Michael's death, and Josie's struggle to hold on to the true world he had shared with her. Compounding her grief and rage is Michael's pianist mother, Meredith Loewy, who returns to her native city with the news of her only son's death. Despite a fierce mutual enmity, the two women find themselves drawn into an eerie relationship reflecting equal parts distrust and blind need.

About the Author:

Janet Fitch: Janet Fitch, a Los Angeles native, is the author of White Oleander, an Oprah Book Club selection. Now translated into twenty-four languages, the novel was the basis of a movie by the same name. She received the Moseley Fellowship in Creative Writing at Pomona College in 2001 and currently teaches fiction writing in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California.