Featured Interview With Eva Pasco
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
An only child at the age of five when my parents and I moved into our custom-built home which happened to be one of the first houses on Angell Rd. in Lincoln, Rhode Island, my rural surroundings had a profound impact on my life. Prior to my enrollment at Lincoln Community School, I looked forward to long walks with my mother and listening to her read stories to me. Until my sister came along two years later, I relied heavily on my imagination while dialoging with my dolls during high tea.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, my circumstances set the stage for a midlife writing career.
By the age of nine, courtesy of my mother who graduated from Katherine Gibbs secretarial school, I became a proficient typist, finger tapping the keys on my girly-pink Tom Thumb typewriter. At the age of twelve, I typed the first of many chapter stories in the genre of mysteries and spy thrillers. In high school I composed a Romance novella which earned its own reserve shelf in the library.
A lifelong Rhode Islander who incorporates geographic entities, historic references, and regional culture in my Women’s Fiction novels, these days I live in Riverside by the East Bay with my beloved cats, two literary agents who keep tabs on me while I work the keys. Allow me to introduce Misty, a 14-year-old, white, Himalayan mix and Hope, an 11-year-old, black-and-white shorthair.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
The realization of my fascination with books and how much I loved to read hit me when I was a third grader at the age of nine. I was so smitten with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ that I signed it out from our school library several weeks in a row to read it again and again.
As mentioned earlier, flying solo as an only child stimulated my imagination which served me well, for I started writing by the age of twelve. A malfunction in the electrical wiring which caused our doorbell to ring automatically, prompted me to compose, “The Mystery of the Midnight Doorbell” which involved secret codes and a smuggling ring. Yeah, baby!
When I retired from teaching, midlife restlessness revived my dormant flair for writing, resulting in the publication of my debut novel, ‘Underlying Notes’ – first printing (2007); second printing (2009); Kindle Edition (2014). While working on my second novel, other writing detours in the form of Memoirs, Retro 60s Flashbacks, and essays pertaining to Rhode Island delayed its completion.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite genre to read is Women’s Fiction. One of my favorite authors is Anne Lamott who inspires me to take on what I do in my novels. In her own words, “I try to write the books I would love to come upon, that are honest, concerned with real lives, human hearts, spiritual transformation, families, secrets, wonder, craziness—and that can make me laugh.”
Consequently, I compose fiction that taps into significant issues affecting the lives of ordinary/ extraordinary, flawed women who grapple with, confront, and overcome their personal dilemmas to become empowered in making profound life changes for the better. Secrets, idiosyncrasies, and sardonic humor prevail throughout my writing.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book in the genre of Contemporary Women’s Fiction is ‘An Enlightening Quiche’ (released September 20, 2016). It took approximately 8 years to bake and rise to the occasion. Besides the writing detours I’ve already mentioned, life’s hairpin turns predisposed me to put the manuscript aside, resume where I left off in spurts, and at one point, I’d contemplated scrapping the project altogether. Fortunately, I got perturbed with myself because I’m not a quitter and my characters deserved the life I’d planned for them.
That mentioned, the book is about how an heirloom quiche recipe redresses erroneous assumptions, misdeeds, unleashed secrets, and malicious intent—all of which wreak havoc, altering the lives of those affected from the fallout of a tragedy.
Augusta Bergeron: Dysfunctional. Deceptive. Demure. More than meets the eye at face value and stuck in a holding pattern, the town siren engages in morally destructive behavior she attributes to maternal abandonment until she eggs-humes her mother’s quiche recipe.
Lindsay Metcalfe: Pedigreed. Privileged. Proper. Mourning the recent death of her mother, the historian-in-residence hailing from Boston sets out to preserve the legacy of an impoverished mill, but gets more than she bargains for when taking a self-centered adolescent under her wing.
Taking place in northern Rhode Island’s fictitious village of Beauchemins in the Blackstone Valley region, the book is enriched with geographic entities, historic references, and regional culture.
In Augusta’s own words, “If you stay on the straight and narrow of Founders and saunter southward past the Green, you’ve left the jurisdiction of Beauchemins and wandered into the affluent town of Lincoln. If you’re inclined to hobnob with the socially elite or upwardly mobile, we’ll part company here and you can go on your merry way. More than likely, you’d rather head north and tarry with us plain-spoken and unpretentious French-Canadians who proudly identify ourselves as “Canucks.” Just as I thought! Follow me.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles