BELLA FIGURABella Figura, set on the island of Capri , explores life's forces of prejudice, greed, deception and the will to endure.
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Interview with Jojo Capece
ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME spoke of the corruption in Italy and the Vatican - What is your latest novel, BELLA FIGURA about?
BELLA FIGURA, is an Italian expression that means "making a beautiful impression." My book dilates the extraordinary lengths individuals will take to make this a life pattern while at the same time prejudice and social strategy sets their scenario internationally.
What inspired you to write the book?
The social-economic divide in the world today with life's forces of prejudice inspired me. I was not interested in political correctness but dialogues behind closed doors. Everyone is biased in one way or another - with courage this story speaks about class, religion, nationalities, gender, race and age bias.
What distinguishes your book from others?
The magnificence of where the book is set, the candid narrative of the characters with their diverse agendas to succeed and the uncertainty how they will manage to confront demons and experience life with a higher perspective.
Who is your ideal reader?
People who are sensitive, well read and well traveled - or those wishing to be well traveled.
Is the book autobiographical?
Readers always believe books are autobiographical. Every author brings something of themselves to their work and this book is no exception. It was inspired by a composite of two true stories and then I let my imagination have freedom to present my reader with a book that I hope they will never forget.
What have you experienced writing BELLA FIGURA?
People have spoken to me about various ways they 've experienced bias in their life - in many cases coming from individuals I thought had everything. Nothing is ever ideal - everyone has hurdles to overcome. It is the test of character to succeed.
Your protagonist, Esmeralda Pembrooke has been married three times and she is only 39 years of age. Isn't that a record?
Esmeralda's life is one of marriage, not promiscuity. One husband leaves her a widow another divorces her. In this novel, five men determine how her life develops and decisions she makes for her future...one is her Father.
You spoke of a trilogy when you wrote your first book. Yet this book is vastly different.
It is different but also set in Italy. My next book is set in Portofino.
When did you write BELLA FIGURA? How long did it take?
In 2004 I began writing BELLA FIGURA in Capri, then secluded myself at a beach house in St. Augustine, Florida, in 2005 and completed the first draft. I walked the beach for hours not believing I could come forth with such a sinister plot. I returned to Capri, wrote more and finalized the story in 2013 at home in San Francisco dedicating it to my husband, founding Chairman of the Human Rights Commission.
What are your plans after the book on Portofino and when is that due?
PORTOFINO is due June 2014. As I have been fortunate to live in many places, I wish to document them with imaginative stories set in Turkey, the United Kingdom, North and South America.
What is your most difficult challenge writing?
Believing in my inner core and not let others tell me how to do things and foster their opinion on me. I take stock in the best writers of the past who wrote because they had something to impart without commercialism being their want but integrity their aim.
BELLA FIGURA, is an Italian expression that means "making a beautiful impression." My book dilates the extraordinary lengths individuals will take to make this a life pattern while at the same time prejudice and social strategy sets their scenario internationally.
What inspired you to write the book?
The social-economic divide in the world today with life's forces of prejudice inspired me. I was not interested in political correctness but dialogues behind closed doors. Everyone is biased in one way or another - with courage this story speaks about class, religion, nationalities, gender, race and age bias.
What distinguishes your book from others?
The magnificence of where the book is set, the candid narrative of the characters with their diverse agendas to succeed and the uncertainty how they will manage to confront demons and experience life with a higher perspective.
Who is your ideal reader?
People who are sensitive, well read and well traveled - or those wishing to be well traveled.
Is the book autobiographical?
Readers always believe books are autobiographical. Every author brings something of themselves to their work and this book is no exception. It was inspired by a composite of two true stories and then I let my imagination have freedom to present my reader with a book that I hope they will never forget.
What have you experienced writing BELLA FIGURA?
People have spoken to me about various ways they 've experienced bias in their life - in many cases coming from individuals I thought had everything. Nothing is ever ideal - everyone has hurdles to overcome. It is the test of character to succeed.
Your protagonist, Esmeralda Pembrooke has been married three times and she is only 39 years of age. Isn't that a record?
Esmeralda's life is one of marriage, not promiscuity. One husband leaves her a widow another divorces her. In this novel, five men determine how her life develops and decisions she makes for her future...one is her Father.
You spoke of a trilogy when you wrote your first book. Yet this book is vastly different.
It is different but also set in Italy. My next book is set in Portofino.
When did you write BELLA FIGURA? How long did it take?
In 2004 I began writing BELLA FIGURA in Capri, then secluded myself at a beach house in St. Augustine, Florida, in 2005 and completed the first draft. I walked the beach for hours not believing I could come forth with such a sinister plot. I returned to Capri, wrote more and finalized the story in 2013 at home in San Francisco dedicating it to my husband, founding Chairman of the Human Rights Commission.
What are your plans after the book on Portofino and when is that due?
PORTOFINO is due June 2014. As I have been fortunate to live in many places, I wish to document them with imaginative stories set in Turkey, the United Kingdom, North and South America.
What is your most difficult challenge writing?
Believing in my inner core and not let others tell me how to do things and foster their opinion on me. I take stock in the best writers of the past who wrote because they had something to impart without commercialism being their want but integrity their aim.