New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani returns to the podcast to discuss her effervescent and big-hearted new book, THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO. The two dive into the novel’s surprising New Jersey setting (yes, that Lake Como) and the emotional journey of protagonist Jess Capodimonte Baratta, an Italian-American woman rebuilding her life and identity after divorce, family loss, and unearthed secrets. They explore themes of self-love, legacy, and the delicate strength of women—likened to marble that can endure anything but shatter with one wrong tap (Adriana even shares some insights on the Italian marble trade).

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome back, Adriana. So excited to have you on Totally Booked with Zibby to talk about The View From Lake Como. Congrats. 

Adriana: Thank you so much. I am thrilled and honored to be here. You know I adore you. 

Zibby: Oh, I adore you too. 

Adriana: Thank you. 

Zibby: Okay. At first I thought, oh great, I'm going to Lake Como, and then I was like, what?

Lake Como, New Jersey? What the heck? Okay, so your book starts in New Jersey. 

Adriana: You get both. I know. I don't let it, don't listen. We can't, can't mislead our, our, our listeners. 

Zibby: I know 

Adriana: You do get both, but you know, we, you know, at different stages of your life, you do different things and people were getting married in New Jersey for, I had cousins getting married down there and different.

We found ourselves in New Jersey a lot and I just started nosing around and I found this town, lake Como, and I thought this was hilarious. This is like, is your sister City Lake, Como, Italy, like, 'cause my mother's people are Lombardi and so we're from that area. So then I started nosing around and found out that the town changed its name.

It used to be South Belmar. This made, this made it more hilarious to me because the property values were plummeting and they wanted to resuscitate this town. So they took a vote and they renamed it Lake Cuomo. 

Zibby: And the rest is history 

Adriana: And the rest is history. And it, and I, I, I just, you know, when I go to write a book, it, it happens on many layers.

And this character, Jess Barada just got divorced and she's really living in her parents' basements sad. And she has to rebuild. And I thought, how interesting. She living in a town that had to rebuild. 

Zibby: Totally. I love that. Okay. Tell listeners what the book is about. 

Adriana: Well, you know, I kind of, here's my elevator pitch.

Zibby: Okay. 

Adriana: That it's, it's the story of a woman who rebuilds her life and the house that goes with it. And this, there's a lot of things on my mind that fed into this for the three year process of writing it that I, I, I contemplated. And one of them is like. The pe where do I feel at most at peace in the world?

And the truth is, I feel at peace in my grandmother and mother's hometown on the mountain in Italy. I just do in the snow. Like, I like snow. I'm one of those people. And when I say at peace, I mean in communion with the ever after. Mm-hmm. So that, that, I wanted to write about that. And then, and, and so many times too, zibi, we.

We make mistakes that we think are mistakes and they bring a shame and guilt and whatever, but that's not really what they are. They're just like doorways to another life. And so I wanted to dramatize that in a book. And so it's true of every layer of the book. Hmm? 

Zibby: Yeah. Well, even though the book is about Jess, it's also about Uncle Louis and what happens with his life and some of his decisions.

And as he, you know, this is fairly on, I feel like I'm not giving. Too much away. I don't know. But you know, when he, when he passes away very sort of dramatically, and she finds out all of this stuff about her uncle who's basically like her dad. I mean, they're so close and he's been such a role model to her.

And then she has to uncover all these sort of family secrets that lay dormant and mm-hmm. And yet you put it all under the context of like. The marble industry, which who knows anything about, which is so fascinating. Talk about that relationship, the Uncle Niece relationship, which by the way does not get a lot of airtime in fiction.

Adriana: No. Well, you have the A RE and eventually I dedicated it to my four uncles that have passed away, that each one were very different people, but I got something from each of them. And when I dived into the relationship between Uncle Louie and Jess. You find that there's a level of honesty there that you can't have with anybody else, and she is in the family business with him, so they're the last two men standing.

Her mother's complicated. Her Uncle Louis tried to give his sister a job. She just was terrible with the public, but he can't tell her that. And they go on and off from not speaking. I don't know if in your family, do people not speak or is that an Italian thing? 

Zibby: Um, 

Adriana: do they go to the island? We send 'em to the island.

That's when we're not talking to them called the island. 

Zibby: No, we all speak. It's what's not said. I think that's interesting. 

Adriana: Okay. That's fascinating. Okay. Well this is true too. Well, it's what's not said and then not, and then holding a grudge when. Maybe if we spoke, we could work it out, but this is how they deal with things.

And they never, when they start resume speaking, would they solve the problem. So it was repeated and there's this idea that this kind of behavior reverberates in life. So she's gonna have to make a break with that somehow, even though Uncle Louis isn't here to work it out with. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: He's present through the whole book, but he, he isn't present physically through the whole book.

So as she's working it out and, and she makes a determination that she needs help. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: She can't do this on her own. So she's the first person since the Etruscans in this family that went to see a therapist, but she doesn't go to see 'em in an office. She goes online. Yep. Yeah. And of course her mother says, go to the priest.

It's free. 

Zibby: What's it called? Like true tech or something? I don't know. New Step. New Step. 

Adriana: Um, Thermi. 

Zibby: Thermi, oh my gosh, what am I talking about? Okay. I didn't even know what New Step is. 

Adriana: Yeah, yeah. 

Zibby: Yes. Which is also fascinating. We could all use a little health, I'm sure. 

Adriana: And why not? You write your problem down in the morning and he calls somebody, Hey, what do I do about this?

Got any ideas? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Zibby: Perfect. I found myself. Kind of wanting Jess to get back together with her ex, I don't know why. And I was like, why did she do that? And you, you say at the start that like the whole town wanted them to reconcile, right? 

Adriana: Yes. 

Zibby: There was like a huge movement. Yes. And you know, as someone who's divorced, I'm like, oh no, no, no.

They should not reconcile. There's a reason, da da da. But then as it kept going on, I was like, but wait, I don't know, where's this going? 

Adriana: Well, you know, there's a, there's a moment in the book when they realize what they mean to each other. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: And sometimes, you know, Zibby we don't, we don't know. I I, to me, just between us two girls here, I, I think it's a mystery what makes a marriage work.

I, I mean, you could say communication and this and that, but it's just sort of something you sort of know. It's the same feeling you get when you know you need to get out of a relationship that you, you can't stay in it another minute. If you do, you'll just shrivel up and die. I mean, so those two energy fields fed this novel too, because I wanted her to, uh, reconcile that, that she could love or appreciate or not.

Her ex-husband and maybe get back together with him if they were at a different place. But as the novel and spools, you find out what happened and it's the way they, that she reacted and he reacted to this trauma and it was never gonna work. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: Right? Or maybe it would, but she'd have to be the master of her destiny.

So for the, for the listener, you're gonna get a very beefy choice here. Between two people for her and, and I, I, I kept saying to the publishers, my beautiful publishers at Penguin, random House at Dutton kept saying to those folks, Hey. This is a self-love story. Hmm. It's about somebody who has to, she's not gonna navigate this through a relationship.

She's gonna navigate it through her life experience. 

Zibby: Very interesting. Plus you throw in not only the travel through self and identity, but literal travel where you take us. You do. Take us out of New Jersey. Thank you very much. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with New Jersey, but nothing wrong, but you know, everybody likes.

A little travel, grab the passport. So you do offer us that sort of escape and through Jess's eyes, and what can we learn from other cultures and where is our happy place in life. 

Adriana: There's a Italian sculptor, a young sculptor named Jago. JAG Geo. Some say Jago, some say Jago. Let's say Yago. Let's say Yago.

He's Italian. He, they call him the modern Michelangelo, and I was invited, or Michelangelo, and I was invited to a screening of the film about his life and his creations, and he has created or did a new, the idea of marble when it, it seemed sheer like fabric, you know, like Michelangelo did. Here's the thing.

Zi, all that marble came from one source on one mountain, and it shall until the end of time. They will never use up the marble on that mountain. It is sheared off. It is not blasted anymore. It hasn't been blasted since the seventies. It's cut. These men, I explain all of that because I am fascinated by the craftsmanship of this.

The idea of marble is that it's very durable. Obviously, that David is still standing. It's very durable, but if you just tap it in the wrong way, Terence to dust and she observes this, Jess Barada observes this, that that's her, her heart really herself, her soul like it's like a woman. You tap it just in the wrong way. Goodbye. We are finished. Right? And I loved how that, she's a draftsman. We should say that. Which I got into that. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: If you go to New Jersey, there's a lot of Italian marble there because that's support where it comes in. So there's a lot of marble, Carrara, marble, we should say, Carrara, Italy and Tuscany.

So it's all part of the whole wa and weave of who she is. It's like her, her life with her family, her parents, her brother, her sister, her Chi. You know the idea that maybe someday she'll have children, their children, she's the maid, not. Even though she's been married, she is the sister who is going to end up being the caretaker in our Italian heritage.

There's always one that stays home and does that or becomes a nun. Or a flight attendant in one of those careers. And if that's the case, you know, then we have a story about somebody who has to say, oh, that's the role you put me in. But that's not the role I necessarily wanna live. And so that's really what it's about.

'cause a lot of us are walking through life. There's a line out the door. People want to tell us how to do what we do, but. That's not the way to do it. The way to do it is it for it to be self-motivated. What fills you up? What makes you complete? Who is your life partner? Where it's not dictated by a culture, just 'cause he's the cutest guy in town and he's the most prosperous, doesn't mean you have to marry him.

Zibby: Let that echo throughout the uhhuh. The townspeople. 

Adriana: Like that's right. In that town. Yeah. 

Zibby: Yeah. 

Adriana: Exactly right. Exactly right. 

Zibby: So have you had an experience where your heart turned to dust? 

Adriana: Well, that's an interesting question. It, I, I am someone, I'm gonna be really honest, where I love what I do so much. That was my, always my focus.

So, you know, crush is this or that, and I really married the man I fell in love with. I did not fall in love with anybody else. Now is that weird? People are gonna write in because, but, and I'm gonna tell, and I could take it a step further, I don't really like the feeling of falling in love. There are people who are addicted.

It made me sick. It's dizzying to me. Evidently something chemically happens in your brain and like. While I love him and I'm still with him and we're married and all of that. I know you experienced this with Kyle, but it's like it's a thing. It's like that. You know that I don't question it. Right? When you start to question it, well, you know what I say check the exits.

Hey, check the eggs. Exit. Get the hell outta Dodge. Okay. 

Zibby: Wait. That's so interesting. The idea that that one could be essentially allergic to falling in love. Yeah. It's not a story in itself. It's a story like you have to keep it running away from love. 

Adriana: Yeah. I, I, I would, I did. It's not that it wasn't pleasurable, but I found it very odd.

Zibby: Hmm. 

Adriana: I found it. Um, and then, and then I've had friends tell me they loved that feeling of that rollercoaster for the first, you know, six weeks or whatever. And I'm like, well, for me, maybe I just don't like heights. I don't know, but it's just, uh, I like the abiding part of love. The mistake making part and the not being my best every day and then trying to do better.

And, um, you, you really know if you love someone when they get sick, if they drive you crazy, better check the exits. I mean, but if you find yourself naturally, everything falls away and I am caring for this person. I think that's a pretty good, do you agree? I think that's a good indicator. 

Zibby: I mean, do we have to extend this to dental work?

Adriana: No. 

Zibby: Okay, then yes, I agree. 

Adriana: That's the worst. That's the worst pain on the planet. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. No, I, I think that's what I like to wrestle with. When I'm writing novels. I don't get to live everything, but I certainly can imagine everything, and if I can imagine it, then I can write it, and if I can write it, then I can make something.

You know, manifest for the audience, for the reader, for the woman reading the book. 

Zibby: Hmm. So when you kept going back and writing more and more into this book, like on a day where maybe you didn't feel like writing so much, what was it that kept calling you to it? 

Adriana: Well, you know, when you're in one of those places where it seems sort of hard, look down the road of your plot a little bit.

What you're gonna, this is just true of me for the writers listening, but I pull the scene that's waiting for me forward and I actually did it when, when we were editing the Big Stone Gap movie, the editor was, had reached a, he was bollocked up, and I went, take that scene there, put it here. And once we did that, then we had a path.

So a lot of times. It's not about staying stuck and trying to push through the stuck, but pull something forward that you know you're gonna do. Because a lot of times what writers do is they know they have this big scene coming, so there's a build to it. Do the big scene, see what happens. Then you can, then you can move it around and play with it.

Excellent advice. Yeah. For me, in the book there's, there's two. There's two co like we call 'em comedy block scenes in, in television and film, but it's, they're, they're the family. Everybody's there. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: And so you have a myriad of voices, which I love those scenes, like where there's a party and somebody shouts something and I love 'em.

And they're, your clues are in that scene because from the big scene, you'll see where you paired off people, and then that create, that can create the entree into the scene. 

Zibby: So just basically write a party,.. 

Adriana: Write a party, write a meal, write people creating something together, something that they're doing.

That's, that is a common purpose, and, and you'll find it in there. 

Zibby: Like marble, perhaps... 

Adriana: like marble, saying just like marble, getting that marble. Did you just love that scene when the marble's coming up? Oh my gosh. I went and watched that happen. Oh my gosh. I love that marble coming off that tanked. 

Zibby: I was literally thinking through this whole, I was like, oh my gosh.

How much research did she have to do? Like how did, did she know any of this before? Did you, I mean, this is a lot of detail. 

Adriana: Well, I knew a little bit. A little bit just from my travel stately. I knew a little bit, but then I wanted to understand how. They sell it, get it off the mount. This is also what's interesting to me, like how do they do that?

Because I had my great grandfather, DBI da, which is David and Italian, David Purim of Venice Venetian. He was from the Venau. He only had three fingers on one hand. He took a job, he was a farmer. This, he ended up to be quite prosperous, Zibby, Zibby. He like did a whole thing on the, where he bought this piece of land in Pennsylvania and just kept adding to it.

He, he, he was very American entrepreneurial, even though he was Italian, Venetian. Anyway, there's a whole story to how he lost those fingers in a quarry. Slate quarry in Pennsylvania. 'cause the most, the, the worst job in a quarry is the blaster is the guy who handles the dynamite. And one one of them was not stacked properly and it blew his fingers off.

Well, I didn't mean to like ruin our day, but learned to manage with the three. He was great. But that I always wanted to understand how that happened. And so when I went to Carrara. Now they shear it. Okay. They block it shear. It's almost like they put points in it and they take it off like in blocks.

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: In the old days, they blew it up and then what came down that wasn't shattered they used and they realized they were wasting. So that, see that's the stuff I get into. It's like, and going up the mountain and, well, what, where were the offices? I went in a trailer and that, that conjured all those scenes and the the historian who's along for the ride and what all that meant, and how she, she didn't know where her career was gonna go. She didn't know where it was gonna go. She knew. She knew how to do what she did, which was draft, but maybe there's something else for her. 

Zibby: I feel like that analogy also applies to writing.

Like at first you just keep blowing things up and then as you, as you get better, you can like fine tune it a little bit. 

Adriana: Yeah. You can see what's under. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: You can, you can see what's under better, but that takes time. That really takes time. You're making a great point about writing because you can know something for sure.

You think, and then you get it down and you go, oh, that's not where this is supposed to go. And, and, and, and you work it out. You figure it out. 

Zibby: Hmm. So you spend your time writing, but you also are uplifting authors, talking to people. Podcast. You do like so many different things. 

Adriana: Well, you're my, you're my sister in crime with this.

Zibby: I'm just saying,.. 

Adriana: Which I love, uh, because you're a writer, you're a novelist and you do this. Okay. Look, I started doing this six years ago. I was terrible. And, uh, like we, we get better as we do it, but I'm just deeply curious. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: And I would have these conversations anyway, so I just started to think, well, a book comes in and I, and I get really interested, like, I, like tomorrow I'm talking to David Lit about, um, about surfing.

I wouldn't any more surfing than the man in the movie. It's riveting. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: Uh, today, Susan Morrison, who wrote the biography of Lorne Michaels, you've had these folks on, so you know them and their, their books are revelatory. And if I can help sell them for them. Whatever I can do, I want to do that because put it in the hands of librarians, put it in the hands of readers, put it in the hands of people wanna discuss things.

You know, my mom was a librarian and she said there's an answer for every problem in the world in the library. 

Zibby: Hmm. 

Adriana: Any problem we have. You know, personal, spiritual, emotional, practical. There's a manual or there's a book, or there's a point of view. So I love, I love doing it. So it's, it's a lot of work that Zibby, uh, we, we always call you St. Zibby behind your back because we don't know how you do it. I, I, like, I'm always, when I'm on an airplane, I've got three books with me. I've gotta finish or I've gotta, you know, and you can pass it however you want, which is the beauty of this. But it's a, it's a huge service to the reader, to the listener right now.

It really is. And I thank you for it. I think it's great. 

Zibby: Oh, well I thank you too. And I think like you, I am also curious and so yes, of course we're doing this for authors, but also for ourselves because it's so fascinating. 

Adriana: Yeah. Your brain gets, I, I don't, you feel you're a better writer 'cause you read it, the volume you read at, that's the shocker to me because when I was writing my novels and we were raising family, I didn't read a lot of fiction. 

Zibby: Mm. 

Adriana: I was writing it so I didn't have time to read it. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: Well, I enjoy it, you know? Yeah. Now I really enjoy your work. I enjoy it. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Adriana: Which I didn't have the chance to do before, you know. 

Zibby: Well, I did really love this book of yours, I have to say. It was really good.

Adriana: Well, it was. I love that you loved it and I love you and I thank you so 

much because little trip to Italy, not that, couldn't, couldn't, we always use a trip to Italy. Always. Always. 

Zibby: When you lead a retreat there. Sign me up. I'm gonna come. 

Adriana: Okay, baby. 

Zibby: Okay. 

Adriana: You got it. You got it. 

You got it. 

Zibby: Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm so excited for you. 

Adriana: Don't Zibby. 

Zibby: Okay. 

Adriana: Thank you. 

Zibby: Thank you. Bye. 

Adriana: Take care, sweetie. I'll see you soon. 

Zibby: You too. Okay.