I'm pleased to welcome Valeria Corciolani to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Valeria writes the Edna Silvera Mystery series. PENTIMENTO MORI is the first book in the series and the first of her fourteen novels to be translated into English.
Kathy: In PENTIMENTO MORI we meet Dr. Edna Silvera, a renowned art
historian. Are you an art lover? Do you have a favorite style of art or
era?
VC: Art has always fascinated me. I’ve studied it all my life.
Art reflects the tastes, customs, and fashions of a unique historical
moment and each period has its own way of expressing itself in painting,
sculpture, music, and dance. Each period has its own unique glories and
fascinations. I can’t possibly choose one over another!
Kathy: What do you find most intriguing about art history?
VC: I’m
most fascinated by the “grammar” that runs underneath it: the choice of
one color over another, the brushstrokes, the symbology, the signs...
in short, the whole universe of details that is there to reveal what is
beyond the obvious and the visible, the clues to hidden worlds. It’s a
little bit like what happens in detective stories. And above all what
fascinates me is its intrinsic fairness. I know that sounds like an odd
thing to say so I’ll let Edna explain. “… museums are born specifically
to give us this: a feeling of well being without having to do anything
other than open ourselves to beauty. … That is why art was born. Art
helps us rediscover what we are, to break down the expectations that
surround us from our first breath, the idea that we have to become a
particular “someone” in order to be happy. Instead, all we need to do is
experience what is around us. That’s it. Because the magic of art lies
here: art doesn’t ask us to become anything different from what we
already are. Art is made for everyone and belongs to anyone,” Edna
smiles. “Art is fair. Like chaos, but less messy.”
Kathy: Edna finds a medieval painting in a junk shop. Have you ever discovered a treasure someone unknowingly discarded?
VC: Haha.
Unfortunately, no. But the fun of writing (and reading!) also lies in
trying to make real what “lives” in your imagination so I guess, in a
way, maybe I have. And they do say that “life imitates art,” so who
knows?
Kathy: What first drew you to mysteries?
VC: As
someone said: “Noir is not a genre. It’s a color, a mood, a sensation.” I
just said that “life imitates art,” but art is also about life. And
that’s the most fascinating aspect of the mystery genre. The plot, the
investigation, the case to be solved, these are only tools that allow me
to observe and, I guess, plunder, the vibrant life that teems around
us, to look at life from a new perspective. For example, I am never able
to draw a clear division between “good” characters and “bad” ones. Can
you do that in real life? Everyone has good and bad in them. It’s
precisely the defects and weaknesses that make a good character – or
even a good person – three-dimensional and give them substance. To me, a
good mystery is not just about understanding the how but above all the
why. That is, what leads a character to do what they do and why they
choose to cross the line between the legal and the illegal, to rebel
against society and carry out a criminal act. This has a long tradition
in Italian Noir going back to the father of the Italian murder mystery,
Augusto De Angelis. Before De Angelis, Italian murder mysteries had been
copies of the British ones. De Angelis, with his focus on the human
aspect, made them uniquely Italian. So yes, my affection goes to both
“good” and “bad” characters and I doubt that in my pages you will ever
find really good guys and really bad guys.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
VC: Yes,
my penultimate novel is literary fiction. LA REGINA DEI COLORI (THE QUEEN OF COLORS) tells the story of Clotilde Podestà, an acclaimed
interior designer, who suddenly, after having spent her first sixty
years of life dealing with shades and colors, completely loses her color
vision due to a rare illness and finds herself catapulted into a
universe made only of whites, blacks and shades of gray which, as she
claims, are a lot more than fifty! So, after being gone for many years,
she decides to return to her hometown. As Clotilde re-engages with her
family, she upsets the balance of things, her new way of seeing giving
her a different perspective on her life and the lives of others. The
absence of color in this novel becomes a sort of metaphor and a key to
entering to enter the new and the unknown.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
VC: I’ve
been wanting to include the rich world of art in my writing for a while
now. I find it fascinating, full, as it is, of clues and mysteries. And
so Edna Silvera was born, a highly talented art historian and restorer
with a life spent paying attention to detail. Fifty-seven years old, she
has recently left her university professorship to dedicate herself to
her research. She often ends up getting into trouble, and for this very
reason she prefers to remain isolated in her house on the Ligurian
hills, far from everything and everyone, in the company only of her cat
Cagliostro and her chickens who adore the music of ABBA and are named
after movie stars. But, obviously, not everything goes as she hopes...
This is a series completely different from my other series, whose
protagonists were the maid Alma Boero and the police inspector Jules
Rosset, a native of the mountainous Valle d’Aosta region who has been
transplanted to the shores of Liguria. Edna and Alma are very different
both in age and life experiences: one is the single mother of four
children, the other from the baby point of view has only had to deal
with the Baby Jesuses of the paintings that she studied and cleaned, and
therefore accustomed to dealing only with herself... they are
opposites, in short. Edna and Alma have in common the ability to
observe, they both have to do a job that sharpens their gaze, every day
the maid Alma enters into the folds of the micro universes that she
tidies up and cleans, an occupation that inevitably leads her to
discover “things” and sometimes see and grasp more than she would like.
How are they similar? They are two women. Each with their own baggage,
but united by the same pride and the similar desire to be true to
themselves. Now that I think about it, they are also united by an
obstinate desire to get to the bottom of things, even when they know
they should just leave well enough alone!
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
VC: Perhaps
Edna, because she is freed from the desire to be liked and to impress
others at all costs, which leaves her with the wonderful freedom to say –
almost always – exactly what she thinks. That’s true whether she’s
dealing with her mother or her colleagues at work. Based on what I hear,
in person, from readers and the tons of comments and messages I receive
on social media, a lot of women are Team Edna and think she’s a great
role model!
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
VC: Each
novel is inspired by a real problem that is close to my heart. I like
to believe that light really is all around us. Humor and playfulness are
things I can’t do without, a bit like my written fingerprint. In all my
books, we often smile, or even laugh, despite having to deal with
crimes and corpses, while exploring challenging and “weighty” themes.
This is to say that life itself is full of alternating drama and
comedy and there is often absurdity in even the darkest moments. It
ought to be natural to find this all coexisting peacefully, regardless
of the literary genre.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
VC: I
began my career in publishing as an illustrator, but ultimately writing
isn’t that different, I just changed my “perspective”: before I told
stories with images, now I also tell them with words, And yes, I
absolutely love immersing myself in stories.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
VC: Undoubtedly
I would invite Astrid Lindgren, the “mother” of Pippi Longstocking,
Harper Lee, Gerald Durrell and Italo Calvino. I grew up with them and I
would have a lot to ask, assuming I was able to bring myself to utter a
word in such company! And then I would also add George Simenon, Alda
Merini and Fruttero & Lucentini… There’s nothing like a big dinner
party!
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
VC: I’m
rereading THE SUNDAY WOMAN by Fruttero & Lucentini. I love rereading
the books I loved, to enjoy the details, the nuances and savor how they
always appears different, perhaps because I myself have changed, and
this little magic moves me. Every time.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
VC: Besides
reading, which is my “room all to myself”, where I cleanse myself of
thoughts by immersing myself in stories that are not mine, I love
photography, walking in the woods and cooking. The latter, however, only
when it is outside of the obligatory meals of every day and I can do it
for pure enjoyment. I also always wanted to learn to build furniture
and learn basic English, learn how to whistle properly, dance the tango,
walk on heels without looking like an ostrich or breaking a leg, glaze a
Sacher Torte, sing “At Last” like Etta James and many other “one day I
will learn to…” I won’t bore you about… I’ll just tell you that to date
there are 72 of them.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
VC: Yeast,
to make bread (as a Ligurian I can’t imagine being without focaccia);
apples, which I love in all shapes and colors; yogurt, which, with the
next ingredient can be transformed into something rapturous, and lots
and lots of dark chocolate, both in winter and summer… after all, black
goes with everything, right?
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
VC: I’m
working on Edna Silvera’s third adventure and they have asked me to
write a mystery for children, which will see the light in the second
part of 2025. With this latest venture, I’ll explore a different
publishing world and I’m very excited about it.
Kathy: What’s your favorite thing about being an author?
VC: The
excitement mixed with emotion when you have the freshly printed copy of
your new book in your hands and every time it’s as if it were the first
time; the moment when you re-read yourself and you ask yourself “did I
really write that?”
I also never get over the wonder of seeing
my name combined with the term “author”, because after fourteen books it
still seems like a title that belongs to someone like Augusto De
Angelis or Italo Calvino rather than me. And above all I carry with me
the interactions I have had with other people because of my writing, the
readers, other authors, even publishers like the wonderful Chiara
Giacobbe who I now consider a good friend! That’s what I love most.
Someone said that books are like bridges capable of uniting and creating
bonds and now I can assure you that it’s really true.
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Review
The First Edna Silvera Mystery
