Laurel Corona

Laurel Corona is the author of more than a dozen middle school books and is a professor of English and Humanities at San Diego City College.

From a Q & A about her new novel, The Four Seasons, at the publisher's website:

Q. What inspired you to write The Four Seasons?

A. I ran across a reference to Vivaldi’s work with the female musicians of the Pieta in a textbook I used for a Humanities courses at the community college where I teach. When I did a little research, I realized how rich and complex a subject the Pieta was in and of itself, how magnificent it became when a great composer and his music were added in, and how explosive a result there would be to have the opulent, complicated and gorgeous city of Venice as the foundation for the story.

Q. While Venetians were—by their own admission—often described as too impassioned, your characters are often in situations where they must suppress any passion. Do you see your most successful characters as those who were able to conceal it the best?

A. My goal was to create central characters with a deep sense of personal dignity, characters who are trying to be all they can be, and not disappoint themselves with the way they’ve lived their lives. I think people recognize that suppression of at least some of our passion is the price of keeping or enhancing our social status, and I think most of us probably aren’t proud of at least some situations where we let passion overwhelm us. I perceived my characters as having all this in mind as they made decisions in their lives, whether I wrote any of it into their thoughts or not.

Read the complete Q & A.

Visit Laurel Corona's website.

--Marshal Zeringue