The book resonates with readers who like family stories, strong female protagonists, evocative settings, and a chance to learn some history they probably didn’t know.

Elisa M. Speranza – 9 November 2023

The Back Flap

1943. New Orleans. Rose Marino lives with her Sicilian immigrant parents and helps in the family grocery store. Her older brother and sister both joined the Army, and Rose prays for their safety as World War II rages overseas. Her parents expect Rose to marry a local boy and start a family. But she secretly dreams of being more like her fiercely independent widowed godmother. Behind her parents’ back, Rose lands a job at the shipyard, where she feels free and important for the first time in her life.

When the parish priest organizes a goodwill mission to visit Italian prisoners of war at a nearby military base, Rose and her vivacious best friend, Marie, join the group. There, Rose falls for Sal, a handsome and intelligent POW. Italy has switched sides in the war, so the POWs are allowed out to socialize, giving Rose and Sal a chance to grow closer. When Rose gets a promotion at work, she must make an agonizing choice: follow a traditional path like Marie or keep working after the war and live on her own terms.

Inspired by little-known historical events and set to a swing-era soundtrack, The Italian Prisoner is an engrossing story of wartime love, family secrets, and a young woman’s struggle to chart her own course at an inflection point in American history.

About the book

What is the book about?

The Italian Prisoner is an engrossing tale of wartime love, family secrets, and a young woman’s struggle to chart her own course at an inflection point in American history. This debut work of historical fiction was inspired by a true but little-known story involving Italian prisoners of war on the New Orleans home front during World War II.

Rose lives with her Sicilian immigrant parents and helps in the family grocery store as the war rages overseas. Behind her parents’ backs, Rose lands a job at the shipyard, where she feels free and important for the first time in her life. When the parish priest organizes a goodwill mission to visit Italian prisoners of war at a nearby military base, Rose falls for Sal, a handsome and intelligent POW. Italy has switched sides in the war, so the POWs are allowed out to socialize, giving Rose and Sal a chance to grow closer. When Rose gets a promotion at work, she must make an agonizing choice: follow a traditional path or keep working after the war and live on her own terms.

When did you start writing the book?

I started writing the book in 2017, though I’d been dabbling in the research before that.

How long did it take you to write it?

About four years.

Where did you get the idea from?

Shortly after I moved from Boston to New Orleans in 2002, I met a local chef, Joe Faroldi. We were comparing notes about growing up in an Italian-American family, when Chef Joe told me his father had been an Italian prisoner of war in New Orleans during World War II and his mother was a local Sicilian-American girl. I had no idea (1) that there was a Sicilian community in New Orleans and (2) that Italian POWs had been brought to the United States during the war. I immediately said, “Someone ought to write a book about that!” Many years later, I became that someone.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

Many! I’d been a writer all my life but had no formal training in creative writing. I had to learn the basic elements of craft—building the airplane while flying it, essentially. I had a great setting, and some characters came to me almost fully formed but getting to the essentials of the story was a big challenge. Well, that and learning not to include every fascinating tidbit of history—I put a lot of those on my website for people who want to really nerd out.

What came easily?

I drew from my own upbringing, stealing words and phrases from my Grandma Speranza. She and my grandfather emigrated to the U.S. from Italy in the 1920s, and I was lucky enough to live near them growing up. So, when it came time to write mealtime scenes, add Catholic references, and tap into family dynamics, I had a lot of material. Also, I live in the heart of New Orleans, which looks much as it did in the 1940s (and the 1840s, for that matter). It was easy to walk down the street and immerse myself in some of the settings for the book.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real-world people you know?

A few historical characters show up in the book, including shipbuilder Andrew Higgins and band leader Louis Prima. Many of the fictional characters are composites of people I’ve known, some were created from whole cloth or appeared out of nowhere. The closest character to a real person in my family is Aunt Inez, who’s pretty much the reincarnation of my own Godmother. She was a lot of fun to write.

It was my great good fortune to track down 11 families who descended from the Jackson Barracks POWs, all still living in the Greater New Orleans area. One of the POWs—Giovanni Distefano—was still alive and shared his wonderful memories with me, as did one of the wives, Marguerite Graffagnini Maranto. I’m so grateful to all the families for their generosity and support. Many of the characters in the book were informed by these real-world people.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

So many! I’ll mention a few contemporary historical fiction authors from whom I’ve tried to pick up techniques and craft tips such as voice, setting, and balancing historical details with narrative flow, like Geraldine Brooks, Lalita Tademy, Martha Hall Kelly, Isabelle Allende, and Amor Towles. But I’ve had a lifetime of soaking up literature that’s probably infused my writing as well, from Wallace Stegner to Virginia Woolf to Toni Morrison and the O.G. Louisa May Alcott. Language, plot structure, character development, setting—they and so many others have paved the way for all of us.

I should also mention writers I admire who’ve freely shared their processes and techniques through workshops, panels, newsletters, and personal conversations. Substacks like Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s “Sitting in Silence,” Rebecca Makkai’s “SubMakk,” and Jami Attenberg’s “Craft Talk” (also, her #1000WordsOfSummer extravaganza) have been hugely valuable.

Do you have a target reader?

The book resonates with readers who like family stories, strong female protagonists, evocative settings, and a chance to learn some history they probably didn’t know. There’s a lot of female energy in the book, but men seem to enjoy it as well, especially the history buffs. Because I wanted the book to have broad appeal, I used a wide variety of beta readers from 17 to 93 years old when I was testing out the first real draft of the manuscript. It’s been very popular with book clubs, which is great.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so, can you please describe it?

My writing process has evolved from “no idea what I’m doing” to a more disciplined daily practice. I try to move the project forward every day, whether it’s research, writing, or revision. Lots of things “count as writing.”

I start with a few great characters and a theme of some kind, usually having to do with a little-known true story. Then I put the characters in situations where they can start calling the shots and try to channel what they tell me. (I know that sounds woo-woo, and I never believed it when authors told me that, but it turns out to be true.) Sometimes I write a lot of backstory that ultimately doesn’t end up in the manuscript. I’ve learned to live with that—I needed to know that context before I could move on, evidently.

I am a firm believer in the proverbial “shitty first draft” and even started a writing group called the “F&S Writing Collective.” (F&S for “fast and shitty”). Then it’s all about revision, revision, revision.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I’m a serial outliner, and I will admit that it’s a procrastination device at times. I have arcs drawn all over my whiteboard, and use chapter headings and a phrase or two to remind me what’s in the scene. I use Scrivener, which helps when I want to rearrange things—particularly important when there’s a real historical timeline to consider.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I try to just write and put in placeholders for things I need to look up later, but sometimes I do end up down a rabbit hole on research questions. The internet is our friend, but also our enemy! Inevitably I will edit a chapter a few times before I can move on. Then at the end, there are many revisions of the whole manuscript.

Did you hire a professional editor?

I figured out early on that I needed a “personal trainer” to kick my butt, hold me accountable, tell me what I was doing wrong, and show me how to do it right. I wasn’t going to go back to school, so I hired Allison Alsup from the New Orleans Writers Workshop. She’s a badass editor, manuscript consultant, and coach. She worked with me on a chapter-by-chapter basis. I shudder to think what the book would have been like without her help. Probably pretty awful.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

I listened to a lot of period-appropriate music while I was writing the novel. That meant a lot of jazz and swing from the first half of the 1940s, so it was fingers, feet, and sometimes other body parts tapping! Louis Prima, Glen Miller, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, The Andrews Sisters—so many great songs. There’s a ton of music in the book, and I posted a playlist of the “soundtrack” on my website to encourage people to explore.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to agents?

Oh yes. Many, many agents. I followed all the advice, wrote meticulously customized queries, found on-point comps, had a few warm introductions from author friends. I got multiple requests for pages and even full manuscripts. Alas, I was querying during the pandemic when things were…ridiculous. Ultimately, no takers.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

After spending the better part of a year waiting, waiting, waiting for agents to respond, I was introduced to an editor for a large indie publisher who expressed enthusiasm but ultimately took a pass. My research partner Sal Serio, Curator at the American Italian Research Library in New Orleans, was 86 years old and quite anxious to see the book in print. His impatience helped me make the decision to go indie, with the help of Gatekeeper Press. I started my own imprint, Burgundy Bend Press, and the book came out in April 2022. Sadly, Sal passed away a month later so I’m glad I didn’t wait because he was like a proud papa, and seeing the published book gave him such joy.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

The cover is from a painting I licensed from a wonderful New Orleans artist, Deedra Ludwig.  I had it professionally produced via Gatekeeper Press.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

Luckily, I had a 30+ year career in marketing prior to writing this book. So, I had an elaborate marketing plan and a big old nerdy spreadsheet to track it all. In addition to social media, I’ve done a lot of bookstore and library events, podcasts, in-person and virtual book clubs, and panel discussions at literary festivals.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Get help!  You want your book to shine and stand up proudly alongside any other book on the shelf. Make sure your book is professionally edited and formatted. Don’t just rely on your friends and family for feedback. They love you and you may not get the objective input you need. Amateur “proofreaders” will miss a lot of typos and other mistakes and you’ve gone blind to them, I promise you that. I read a lot of unpublished manuscripts now, and all of them could benefit from professional help. Also, spring for a professional narrator and do an audiobook if you can. So many people are listening to, rather than “reading” books now.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the working-class city of Lynn, Massachusetts, on the North Shore of Boston. When I was ten, my family moved to the neighboring town of Swampscott, where I went to high school. I spent my college and grad school years, and the first part of my professional life, in Boston. All of which means I am a die-hard member of Red Sox Nation.

Where do you live now?

My partner Jon and I live in New Orleans, Louisiana in the winter, and in Oak Bluffs on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard in the summer. I’m very grateful to live in two special, diverse, magical places with two very different climates.

What would you like readers to know about you?

My Dad was a bricklayer, and my Mom was a homemaker and teacher. I lost my baby sister to prescription drugs when she was 37. I had a long career in journalism, government, politics, and business before I finally made time to write fiction. (Ask me anything about water and wastewater infrastructure.) I love baseball, music, the ocean, and a good story—not always in that order.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a “spin-off” of the first book. It’s a dual-timeline story, starting in 1955 and flashing back to World War II. It’s about the consequences of untreated trauma and the healing power of love and forgiveness. The working logline is: “When the ghosts of war won’t stay buried, an Army nurse must find a way to heal before she loses everything.”

End of Interview:

For more from Elisa M. Speranza, visit her website and follow her on both Facebook and Instagram.

Get your copy of The Italian Prisoner from Amazon US or Amazon UK.