Russel

Of all the characters in One Summer in the Sun, Russel Penn—a relatively minor supporting role—comes closest to the real life individual that inspired him. Most of the characters are composites or wholly invented and, to be sure, Russel isn’t really a portrait of anyone either. To distance him a little, I caricatured his family some—especially the sister, who is nothing like the real thing (except maybe in appearance).

Another version of Russel, that is, a character based on the same real-life individual, has appeared in a fairly well-known novel by another author (he is, in fact, her husband). For the most part, you would not know they were the same person. I certainly don’t treat him as sympathetically, though he still comes off as a ‘good guy.’ He’s just the sort my wise-cracking trio of main protagonists are likely to poke a little fun at, in private. To some degree, he symbolizes to them the high school life they have left behind.

If it hadn’t been for that book by that other author, I might never have used him at all. But how could I resist putting my own twist on him and the town in which he lived? Incidentally, I am pretty sure my portrayal of Naples, set a few years later, is somewhat more accurate than hers. Nothing beats growing up in a place.