Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him
Danielle Ganek's Fictional Look Inside New York's Chelsea Art Scene
Danielle Ganek’s debut novel centers around protagonist and aspiring artist Mia McMurray, a gallery receptionist, or gallerina, at the Simon Pryce Gallery in Chelsea. From her perch behind her concrete and steel desk, Mia sees everything that happens at the gallery, even when those who make their way through the heavy glass doors don’t give her the courtesy of a glance.
The story picks up on opening night for emerging artist Jeffrey Finelli, a 58-year-old painter. The opening goes swimmingly until Jeffrey steps outside for a smoke and is hit and killed by a passing taxicab. Suddenly this formerly unknown artist’s work is in high demand. And at the center of that demand is the title work, Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, an enormous portrait of a young girl with a paintbrush and small canvas.
Suddenly everyone wants Lulu, including the subject of the painting, Lulu – a young woman to whom Jeffrey had promised the work prior to his death. She arrives at the gallery to see her late uncle’s work and is haunted by the portrait of herself. She soon finds herself swept up in the art world and quits her job on Wall Street to learn more about the uncle she had never met and the world in which he lived. She even picks up a paintbrush herself and creates a painting that is mistaken for a long-lost Jeffrey Finelli piece.
Lulu soon befriends Mia, who envies Lulu’s fortune to be able to quit her job, paint and be mentored by a famous artist. When Lulu and Mia travel by private jet to Italy for Jeffrey’s funeral, they meet the countessa, a former lover of Jeffrey’s, and learn that he was actually Lulu’s father.
Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him gives the reader a delicious inside peek at the New York City contemporary art scene. Mia rubs elbows with the rich and the desperate to become rich, the dealers and the artists themselves. Each page seems to spill more secret goings-on behind the scenes, and lets the reader in on the glamor and gossip that those in the industry experience on a daily basis.
Danielle Ganek will be included in Barnes and Noble’s fall 2007 Discover Great New WritersTM program. According to bn.com, the program introduces dynamic new literary writers to an eager reading public, highlighting the most impressive new works published each season. There are currently more than 800 Barnes & Noble bookstores and affiliates featuring this program, as well as 36 Barnes & Noble College Bookstores.
Ganek, Danielle
Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him
New York, Penguin Group, June 2007
