This book is different from your previous two novels in that most of it is set in Italy and only a small portion is set in Astoria, New York. Why did you choose to make Italy the main setting in Stella Mia?
I learned from many of my readers that the scenes that took place in Italy in both Bella Fortuna and Carissima really resonated with them. And as an author, I especially enjoyed writing those scenes that were set in Italy, so I decided to make the main setting for Stella Mia Italy and just set a small portion of the book in Astoria, New York. I like to challenge myself as a writer and shake things up a bit from book to book.
Domestic abuse figures prominently in Sarina’s story. Why did you decide to touch on this subject?
I was fortunate enough to have parents who didn’t hit me as a form of punishment when I was a child; however, I knew other kids who were repeatedly physically abused. I also remember the mother of an ex-boyfriend of mine recounting the horrible physical abuse she had suffered as a child at her father’s hands. With my friends whose parents had abused them, I saw the effect the abuse had on their lives as they got older. It eroded their self-esteem, and many times caused them to treat others poorly, whether it was through verbal or physical abuse. In Sarina’s case, I believe her father’s vicious abuse of her ultimately played a role in why she chose not to return to Julia. She never trusted fully that she could be a good mother and avoid becoming the monster her father was. Likewise, she was never fully confident in Carlo’s love for her and was easily made insecure when Gemma came into the picture. It was almost as if she didn’t believe she deserved to have someone love her the way Carlo did because her father had never loved her.
In Stella Mia, you made us understand the character of Paulie Parlatone better as well as made him more likeable than when he appeared in your previous two novels. What were your motives for doing so?
Though Paulie could be quite an annoying character with his nosiness and crude habits, as we saw in Bella Fortuna and Carissima, he was also an unforgettable character for those same traits that made him so irksome. I’ve always believed there is more than meets the eye with most people. We often forget that people have histories and that the events that have happened in their lives make them who they are today. I wanted readers to understand better why Paulie is the way he is, particularly where his need to know everyone’s business is concerned. In Stella Mia, when we see that he has been lonely since Sarina left him and Julia, we can understand why he might try to distract himself from his problems and loneliness by focusing instead on his neighbors’ affairs. I also thought it would be fun for readers to encounter him again in Stella Mia, and to learn more about him, especially from the perspective of someone who loves him—his daughter, Julia.
In all of your novels, you depict different relationships and their dynamics. In Bella Fortuna, we saw the dynamics between Valentina and her mother and sisters. In Carissima, we saw the dynamics of sisters, both when they’re close and when they’re estranged. And in Stella Mia, we have the dynamics between a daughter and her mother who abandoned her. Why are familial bonds a strong recurring theme in your writing?
I think some of the most fascinating relationships are familial ones. I’m close to my family, and I do enjoy writing about families and their interactions with one another, whether they are good or bad. Families are quite complex, and the way we act with some of our family members might not necessarily be the same way we would behave in some of our other relationships. I love the multifaceted complexity of the bonds that hold family members together and when something happens that tests those bonds or breaks them.
Have you ever had a tarot card reading, and do you believe they can give one a glimpse into what the future holds in store for them?
When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to get regular tarot card readings from a fortune-teller. My brother had bought a deck of tarot cards, and my sister and I used to practice giving each other readings. I haven’t had a reading since my twenties when a coworker and friend gave me one. Though I was very intrigued by tarot cards when I was younger, I don’t believe in them now. I also didn’t like how for a while you carried in your mind the reading you received and were waiting to see if what transpired in your life matched the reading. I don’t believe we are intended to know the roadmap in our future, and we shouldn’t be living our lives trying to figure out what is in store for us. But I still do love the mysticism and allure that tarot cards hold, even though I’ve given up on using them to tell me my future or to help throw some light on whatever obstacles I might be facing currently in my life.
Can you give readers a tarot card reading for the future and let us know what subject you might be writing about in your next book?
I haven’t completely formulated the idea for my fourth book, but I do know it will be completely set in Italy, and pastries will figure prominently in the novel. Sorry to be mysterious, but that’s all I can predict for the future right now!
A READING GROUP GUIDE
STELLA MIA
Rosanna Chiofalo
About This Guide
The suggested questions are included to enhance your group’s reading of Rosanna Chiofalo’s
Stella Mia.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. After Sarina runs away from home, she is torn with guilt over having left her mother and siblings behind. Do you believe she made the right decision in leaving her mother and younger siblings behind?
2. Sarina goes from living an abused, hard life in her father’s house, to living an idyllic life in the coastal resort town of Taormina and on the magical Aeolian Islands, and her dream of singing becomes a reality. How do you think her life would have been different if she had remained at home and continued to be abused by her father?
3. Sometimes Sarina feels that Carlo is being idealistic when it comes to their romance since they are from opposite worlds; he is rich and has had a privileged life, whereas Sarina has only known poverty and hardship. Discuss the pros and cons of being romantically involved with someone who’s from a different social class.
4. In Stella Mia, the author goes against the long-held stereotype of gypsies as thieves and swindlers by depicting Maria and her family of gypsies as honest and hardworking, yet the author also shows how people immediately mistrusted them. Do you feel gypsies have been judged unfairly over time?
5. Sarina is intimidated by Carlo’s father, Signore Conti, especially when she realizes he knows she has been seeing Carlo. Does Signore Conti intimidate Sarina so much because subconsciously he reminds her of her own stern father? Did she give in too easily to Signore Conti’s demands that she leave Carlo?
6. Paulie tells Sarina that America is a “land of no tears.” What do you think he meant by this? Do you feel that many immigrants believed this before immigrating to America? For Sarina, America instead proves to be a land full of tears. Discuss what could have become of Sarina if she hadn’t married Paulie and moved to America.
7. Why do you think Julia gave up on asking her father more about her mother, especially when she reached adulthood? Do you feel she was too harsh toward her father when she confronted him about Sarina’s diary?
8. How has Paulie failed Julia? How has he done right by her? How has Sarina failed Julia? Has Sarina done right by Julia by staying out of her life for so long?
9. Are Sarina’s motives for not returning to Julia valid? Do you think she deserves Julia’s forgiveness?
10. Toward the end of Stella Mia, Julia has a dream in which she is experiencing a few of the major moments in Sarina’s life. It is as if she has become Sarina until the end of the dream, when it is then just Julia watching her mother climb higher, and away from her, on the grapevine. What do you think the author was trying to achieve with this dream sequence?
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2015 by Rosanna Chiofalo
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-7505-9
eISBN-10: 1-61773-863-8
First Kensington Electronic Edition: January 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0-7582-7505-9
ISBN-10: 0-7582-7505-6
First Kensington Trade Paperback Printing: January 2015
Stella Mia Page 36
