The Awful Truth employs the timeless fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) as a dramatic and self-indicting lens to explore aspects of my life, drawing deeply from the unforgettable imagery of Jean Cocteau’s 1945 black-and-white avant-garde masterpiece.
This reworking brings years of revisiting and wrestling with the same material to a resolution that feels more satisfying than any of my previous attempts. At last, I feel I’ve truly done it justice, though in a stripped-down and critical way.
Writing under the nom de plume Alexandra Ollila, I anticipate more to come. Enjoy.
“A truly beautiful work of art.”
—Leela, reader
Print copies available soon.
This story will consume you, and yet you will wonder why you wasted your time reading it. Hopefully, you will pity the protagonist. She wants your pity, she has no pride. You won’t like her–the awful truth is–I hate her. I want to write her, so that can do away with her. Leave her somewhere and be done with her once and for all. This act of writing is an exorcism, for as they say: Ghosts will out.
The L Spot Shop 
Leave a comment