Interview With Author Giovanna Brunini

 

1. What inspired you to write this book?

Three different experiences: the purchase of a Tuscan farmhouse ruin in the hills that my Italian ancestors inhabited (the blissful fool’s dream, sleeps unrestored and so for the past ten years); my mother’s confession, my thirteenth year, that she wasn’t fully satisfied with her marriage to my father; and memories of first love. The impetus of “what if” joined forces over the years with my love of forgotten houses, until one day, I found my mother’s confession mirrored my married life. 

 

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?

In Never a Cloud, three women learn the story behind a secret that rearranges everything they thought they knew about the people closest to them. It tells the story of narrator, Violet, a child of the sixties, Margot, a New York City artist who has inherited her grandparents home, Otyrburn, in the Highlands of Scotland, and Ava, Violet’s daughter whose work on her doctorate in intersectional feminism sets the tone for the novel. The disparate lives of these three women (four including, Ruby, Margot’s daughter) collide irrevocably at a week long New Year’s party, 2018, at Otyrburn; the discoveries are layered against a backdrop into the machinations of the international art world. 

 

I wrote for anyone interested in the question of metaphysical solitude; like Tolstoy, a theme that has defined me lifelong. Or to quote Gibran: “That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you, is the strongest and most determined."

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?

An expansive sense of self; a renewed respect for personal growth; and that in an expressive world—they must trust their instinct. 
 

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?

The cover was a gift from the Welsh photographer, Pete Bushell, who generously refused compensation. I worked start to finish with Kirkus Editorial. The title was discovered one day with my “each for the other” person, Jonathan Tabakin, while we researched his ancestors; a journey which included the race horse, Never a Cloud, owned by his great uncle, Izzy Schwartz. New England is a closet filled with clouds. I am a landlocked thassophile in love with the sun. I found inspiration for the cover’s title font from Vietnam era protest posters, which ties into Violet's political activism.  

5.  Were you surprised -- elated -- when Kirkus Reviews said of your book: "The novel often feels like the film Gosford Park populated by readers of the London Review of Books... Brunini's prose is often evocative..."?

I did a little dance! I had hoped for two adjectives, “evocative,” and “heartfelt;” the latter a gift from a 5 starred review by Pacific Book Review. 

 

6. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?

Free verse: having done my research, I work frequently from a place of stream of consciousness. I’m a fast-paced writer; my poetry (so I’m told) means that my prose paints a picture. Family figures large in my writing, like Jane Austen, and Amor Towles. 
 

7. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?

Oh my, I witnessed the dissolution of my ego—if ever so minutely. I learned the merit in asking oneself if on any given situation, one is responding from an earth-bound place, “the little me,” or from the sky, “the larger one.” 

8. Your personal life is interesting. You took what you call a "marriage sabbatical," adopted a child from China, and enjoy being an artist. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?

The novel is semi-autobiographical. What writer does not write from life, regardless the genre? We are our life experiences. Personal growth happens in increments. My life has evolved through self-generated expansive experiences; their origin often obscured at the moment; the trip to Rome, Italy, 2000, the “marriage sabbatical” with my three youngest children. 

9. You have lived in Italy, Mexico, and Vermont. How does your location influence or inspire your writings?

Greatly. Immersive travel broadens the palette. My second novel, a WIP, is set in Mexico City and the Yucatan. Many writers also paint; the visual aspect resists restraint.
 

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?

We all inhabit mysteriously shared dreams, ponder relationships, wrestle with spiritual struggles, and balance the moralist—and we are happiest when humor is our companion. Narrator, Violet, for one, has an irreverent sense of humor. But foremost, if you think that even a piece of yourself has slipped away—read Never a Cloud. As Tolstoy said: “You have to go on an adventure to reinvent yourself.”

 

For more information, please see: www.giovannabrunini.com

 

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Brian Feinblum should be followed on LinkedIn. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.4 million pageviews. With 4,600+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum