Juliet Grames's new novel is The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: What do you think the novel says about family, and also about immigration?Visit Juliet Grames's website.
A: Life has taught me that families are both really complicated and also profoundly influential on important decisions we make, even decisions that don’t seem to have anything to do with our families.
There’s a Calabrese proverb that I use in the novel: I guai da pignata si sapa sulu a cucchjiara cchi c’e vuota, which translates as “The problems inside the pitcher are known only to the spoon that stirs it.” In other words, only a family knows its own problems.
I hope the novel encourages empathy and patience for difficult people by reminding readers that “difficult” personalities are often products of family hardships.
As for immigration, I have always found the notion of stepping onto a boat to sail away from your homeland forever, to head toward another country you have never been, where you don’t know the language and have no promise that you’ll be able to thrive or even survive—I’ve always found the thought overwhelming, heartbreaking, and inspiring.
I’ve never done anything remotely as brave as my immigrant ancestors, and...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue