I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the BECOMING MARIELLA by
Janet Constantino Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Book:
Author: Janet
Constantino
Pub. Date: February 4, 2025
Publisher: She Writes
Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 376
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/BECOMING-MARIELLA
For fans of Elena Ferrante’s The Lying Life of Adults and
Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation comes a contemporary
coming-of-age tale about a young Italian immigrant’s desperate journey to find
her personal freedom.
It’s unprecedented, even in the twenty-first century, for a young Sicilian
woman to defy the centuries-old mandate, “Family is everything!”—but
twenty-two-year-old Mariella Russo is desperate to escape Sicily. She’s being
relentlessly coerced into an engagement with her wealthy college sweetheart—a
young man from a prominent, powerful family—by her envious and erratic mother,
who hopes the match will increase her own ignominious social status. Suddenly,
Mariella’s lifelong home has become a claustrophobic island. In a bid for
independence and an attempt to escape entrapment, she flees to San Francisco.
But Mariella’s bête noire—entrapment—follows her to San Francisco, where
everyone wants more from her than she wants to give. Her American roommate,
Leslie, turns out to be a gay man rather than the woman she imagined; her
employer/lover is pressuring her to live with him; and her neurotic mother is
haunting her, wreaking havoc and embarrassment. An urgent return trip to Sicily
puts Mariella to the ultimate challenge: will she submit to tradition, or
choose a life she wants for herself?
Reviews:
“Readers will easily relate to this
enjoyable and honest depiction of the conflicting desires and expectations
faced by many people in their 20s.” —Kirkus Reviews
“. . . Constantino's prose effectively carries the story . . .” —BookLife
Prize
“Janet Constantino creates a host of unforgettable—and delightfully
unpredictable—characters in this wise and lively novel full of romance,
passion, true friendship, and deliciously detailed descriptions of authentic
Italian cooking.” —Mary Helen Stefaniak, author of The Cailiffs
of Baghdad, Georgia
“Janet Constantino has created a character of wonderful complexity.” —David
Chandler, stage, screen, and voice actor
“Becoming Mariella speaks to any woman or man who has ever wanted
more of a future than what was already laid out for them.” —Morgan Ray,
author of Sticks and Stones and Unsolicited Greetings
“You’ll end up considering them your friends and want to invite most of them
over for dinner.” —Susan Salenger, author of Sidelined
Interview Questions
For the readers: can you tell us a little bit
about your book and the characters?
Inspiration for
Becoming Mariella. A friend asked me, "If you could write
about anything you wanted, what would that be?" I thought immediately of Sicily, and then of
a young Sicilian woman trying to break free from her overbearing mother, and
from a culture that has historically kept women in traditional roles of
housewife, cook, and mother. I also took
inspiration from my psychotherapy clients who have dared to follow their own
paths, even if they're in relationtships, and of my own challenges along the
way.
What are you working on now?
I have a
sequel brewing in the back of my mind. I
want to know what happens to Mariella after her return family visit to Sicily,
and her subsequent return to her new home of San Francisco.
Were any of the characters in the book
inspired by people from your real life?
My mother
partly inspired Mamma in the novel. Along with the actress Anna Magnani! My mother was impulsive, and had a real flair
for the dramatic. She really did do her
best, and was frustrated, like Mamma, in being held back in her life. Also, Nonna was partly inspired by a dear,
kind, older friend, who believed in me, no matter what.
Who was your favorite character to write? What
about your least favorite?
Well,
Mariella, of course. But I also really
loved writing her gay roommate and dear friend Leslie. A foil to Mariella's perhaps overly developed
sense of responsibility.
My least
liked tof write characters would have to be Theresa, the sister of Giovanni who
was Mariella's lover and boss at the restaurant in San Francisco. And Bruno, the father of Matteo, who was
Mariella's fiance, in Sicily
What is your favorite passage/scene in your
book?
I had fun writing the kitchen scene with Mamma as Mariella prepares the
last Sunday ragu before she secretly escapes to San Francisco. The scene that begins with "Mariella’s
knife landed swiftly, solidly, thunk,
thunk, thunk, again and again, on the cutting surface. She diced celery, carrots, and onions with
precision borne of fury, her mother’s leering face chopped into progressively
tinier bits. She was preparing the soffritto for tomorrow’s ragu. Sunday lunch:
for Sicilian families, the
big, important meal of the week."
What kind of research did you have to do for
the story?
Lots.
Especially about Sicilian history with the Norman Conquest of Sicily
from 999 through 1194 (thus Mariella's and Nonna's green eyes, a "gift
from the Normans") and the Allied Occupation of Sicily in WWII, during
Occupation Husky against Mussolini and the Fascists, in 1943. Also, I checked for accuracy about
architecture and customs, auch as Christmas, as well as facts about the
University of Catania, airports, open air markets, wines, and the specifics of
some native dishes. And, travel
distances between various cities.
Lightning Round Questions
What are you reading right now? Or
what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?
Right now I'm reading The Hunter by Tana
French, and I've always had it on my TBR list to read Ulysses, whch I've
started at least 10 times. Same with
Proust and Remembrance of Things Past.
Favorite social media site?
I'm not very ept at Social Media, but I'll say
Instagram
Favorite Superhero or Villain?
Dorothea in Middlemarch. As you can tell, I'm pretty
old-fashioned.
Favorite TV show?
Masterpiece Mystery and Masterpiece Theater
Sweet or Salty?
Salty
Any Phobias?
Heights, Freeway driving
Song you can’t get enough of right
now?
Some of the old Eagles stuff, New Kid in Town; and
Bryan Ferry, Slave to Love, and More Than This.
K.D. Lang too
2024 Movie you’re most looking forward
to?
A Real Pain, with Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg
Do you play video games? If so what
are some of your favorites?
I don't
About Janet Constantino:
Janet Constantino is a former a competitive Latin Ballroom dancer and
journalist, and has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1983. In 2015, she
earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University, and in 2021, she won
second place in the MFK Fisher Last House writing contest. A practicing
Buddhist, Janet has a grown son and twin granddaughters. She and her husband of
twenty-five years live in the beautiful city of Sonoma, California, with their
beloved Labradoodle and tuxedo cat.
Subscribe to Janet’s newsletter! Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon
Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a finished copy of BECOMING MARIELLA, US Only.
Ends February 22nd, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
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2/3/2025 |
Interview/IG Post |
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2/4/2025 |
Guest Post |
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2/5/2025 |
Guest Post/IG Post |
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2/6/2025 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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2/7/2025 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/8/2025 |
Review/IG Post |
Week Two:
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2/9/2025 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/10/2025 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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2/11/2025 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/12/2025 |
IG Review |
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2/13/2025 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/14/2025 |
IG Post/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post |
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2/15/2025 |
IG Review/LFL Drop Pic |
Week Three:
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2/16/2025 |
Review |
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2/17/2025 |
IG Review |
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