1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A woman is forced to rebuild her life and the house that goes with it. In Italy!
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
My husband and I were driving down the shore and came upon Lake Como, New Jersey. I was off to the races! I’m half Lombardian- Italians in the Alps- near Lake Como. It was fate.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Decent. Kind. Put upon.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned about gilding stone- and cutting stone. I learned that sculptors, including the great Jago, go to Carrara to choose marble from the same mountain that Michelangelo visited to choose his marble to sculpt David.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Both.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Spaghetti.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
A room with a door that closes. A room of one’s own! Thank you, Virginia Woolf!
10--Who is an author you admire?
Too many! Currently on a Pearl S. Buck bender.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
JOURNEY OF A SOUL by Pope John XXVIII
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
Oh, it was a happy day! My agent called and said, “This will go fast.” That was Big Stone Gap, and I haven’t looked back. There’s always suffering and failure- but this was a good day.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
All of them. I’m voracious.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Sullivan’s Travels. Midnight. My Man Godfrey.
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With family.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Katie Couric is always good.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Sleep!
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I always hope the next novel is better than the one that precedes it, so I work to that end.
A Novel
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, a “dazzling” storyteller (Washington Post), and a “comedy writer with a heart of gold” (NYT), comes a novel about one woman’s quest to build her own life before it’s too late.
Jess Capodimonte Baratta is not living the life of her dreams. Not even close.
In blue-collar Lake Como, New Jersey, family comes first. Recently divorced from Bobby Bilancia, “the perfect husband," Jess moves into her parents’ basement to hide and heal. Jess is the overlooked daughter, who dutifully takes care of her parents, cooks Sunday dinner, and puts herself last. Despite her role as the family handmaiden, Jess is also a talented draftswoman in the marble business run by her dapper uncle Louie, who believes she can do anything (once she invests in a better wardrobe).
When the Capodimonte and Baratta families endure an unexpected loss, the shock unearths long-buried secrets that will force Jess to question her loyalty to those she trusted. Fueled by her lost dreams, Jess takes fate into her own hands and escapes to her ancestral home, Carrara, Italy.
From the shadows of the majestic marble-capped mountains of Tuscany, to the glittering streets of Milan, and on the shores of enchanting Lake Como (the other one), Jess begins to carve a place in this new/old world. When she meets Angelo Strazza, a passionate artist who works in gold, she discovers her own skills are priceless. But as Jess uncovers the truth about her family history, it will change the course of her life and those she loves the most forever. In love and work, in art and soul, Jess will need every tool she has mastered to reinvent her life.
Fed by the author’s cherished Italian roots comes a bighearted, hilarious novel of the moment: the story of one woman’s determination to live a creative life that matters, with enough room left over for love. With a one-way ticket to Italy, Jess is determined to write a new story on her own terms—this time, in stone.
Women's Fiction Contemporary | Women's Fiction Family Life [Dutton, On Sale: July 8, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593183359 / eISBN: 9780593183359]
ADRIANA TRIGIANI is an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. The author of the bestselling Big Stone Gap trilogy and the novel Lucia, Lucia, Trigiani has written the screenplay for the movie Big Stone Gap, which she will also direct. She lives in New York City, with her husband and daughter.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026