Jessica Bell never meant to be a rebel. But growing up with two gothic rockers as parents seemed to make it inevitable. In 1980s Australia, Erika Bach and Demetri Vlass founded Ape the Cry and Hard Candy, two of Melbourne's iconic indie bands. They encouraged Jessica with unreserved love to pick up the guitar and write her own songs. But Erika's back problem became a nightmare of pill popping, alcohol abuse, and anxiety attacks. Demetri retreated into silence for fear of triggering Erika's drug-induced psychosis. And Jessica turned inwards, to her own reflection. But her mirror self was a fiend, not a friend. All it took was one secret drink at fifteen, and Jessica dove headlong into depression and self-destruction to escape the madness at home. Experimenting with bisexuality in a high school rife with bullies? Not a problem; she had alcohol. Losing her virginity to rape? Not a problem; she had alcohol. Trying to supplement absent love with unprotected one-night stands? Not a problem; she had alcohol ... Until one day alcohol nearly drove Jessica off a cliff. Jessica had to look at herself honestly and frankly. Why did she keep running from reality, and more importantly, herself?

Author Biography

Jessica Bell is an Australian award-winning author and poet, writing and publishing coach, and graphic designer who lives in Athens, Greece. In addition to her novels and poetry collections, and her best-selling Writing in a Nutshell series, she has published a variety of works online and in literary journals, including Writer's Digest. Jessica is also the Co-Founder and Publisher of Vine Leaves Press, the singer of Keep Shelly in Athens, a voice-over actor, and a freelance editor and writer for English Language Teaching publishers worldwide such as Macmillan Education and Education First. Before she started writing she was just a young woman with a "useless" Bachelor of Arts degree and a waitressing job. Visit Jessica's website: jessicabellauthor.com