Featured Interview With Gail Mencini
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in a rural community in Nebraska where everyone knew their neighbors and summers were spent outdoors—working, playing, or watching fireflies.
I was raised to be independent. College and grad school brought me training in tax law, and for many years I practiced as a CPA using that knowledge. The miracle in my life occurred when I married my loving husband. He, along with our four sons, their activities, and our dogs, made my life brim with joy.
Living in the beautiful state of Colorado, being a wife, mother, writer, and breast cancer survivor, I am truly blessed.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My love for reading books and imaging characters and their stories germinated during those long Nebraska childhood days of creating my own world. My parents, who visited every continent except Antarctica, sparked my love of travel and adventure, which burns brighter than ever.
One hot July summer in Key West, my husband and I toured Ernest Hemingway’s house. Smacked in the face with the master writer’s ghost and palpable presence, I confessed my secret desire to write books. Unlike me, my husband felt only the heat and humidity and not a trace of Ernest. My confession led to a novel that won contests, but otherwise never saw the light of day. Years of writing, revising, and rejections occurred, and then kernel of an idea, and several trips to Italy, evolved into To Tuscany with Love, my debut novel.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read several genres—women’s fiction, thrillers, and mainstream fiction, although women’s fiction is my favorite. My favorite authors include Kristin Hannah, Jennifer Weiner, Barbara Kingsolver, JoJo Moyes, Jodi Picoult, Mary Kay Andrews, and J.K. Rowling. Barbara Kingsolver inpsires me for her ability to paint sensuous pictures with words, and J.K. Rowling for turning generations of young people into avid readers.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
To Tuscany with Love (Jan. 2014, Capriole Group), my award-winning and best-selling debut novel, is a story about friendship, second chances, and taking stock of your life and then moving with purpose and passion in the direction of your dreams.
Like my characters, “life” happened to me during the writing of this book—breast cancer, sale of a house, following our son’s team win two back-to-back state basketball championships. If I put my writing hours into one continuous calendar, it took me about two years to write the novel and most of another year to revise after editing. I love the book cover and how it draws the reader in, inviting them to Tuscany—that’s how I felt when I visited Tuscany. My readers tell me that To Tuscany with Love transports them to Italy, and I think you’ll find that to be true when you read it.
Let me ask you a question.
Can one college semester abroad change the course of your life? For Bella Rossini it did.
Bella, a vivacious college junior, is suddenly thrust into living in Tuscany with seven strangers during one life-altering summer.
Meet Hope, the sturdy and practical girl, steadfast in her loyalty to her boyfriend; Meghan and Karen, identical twins with an eye for fashion and beauty to match; Stillman, haunted by his hard past, and Phillip, an athlete, both fueled by competition; Lee, by family mandate in pre-med; and Rune, the Hollywood-bound wild child.
While uncovering the charms of Italy, they discover both friendship and love.
After their summer, life – and loss – happens.
Returning to Italy thirty years later, their dreams, anger, secrets, disappointments, and regrets send them on a startling collision course that none of them could have predicted.
“Inspirational Women’s Fiction” — USA TODAY
You can download six chapters for free, travel tips, and some of Bella’s recipes on my website—check it out!
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