Show Me Your Shelves | Danielle Trussoni
Interviews
Show Me Your Shelves is a regular book column by Gabino Iglesias. In this edition he talks with Danielle Trussoni, author of the Angelology series and horror columnist for The New York Times Book Review.
Danielle Trussoni’s work is best described as just read it. Her narratives are bursting with pulpy, adventurous DNA, but her prose is elegant enough to know which fork goes first at fancy restaurants. That’s what has made her a New York Times bestselling author. Her latest, The Ancestor, kept me glued to it and became a novel I’m still recommending months after reading and reviewing. As if that weren’t enough, Trussoni is also an awesome person with a great online presence. When I asked her to show us her shelves, she immediately agreed. She also answered every question I threw her way. Here’s what she had to say.
Gabino Iglesias: Who are you and what role do books play in your life?
Danielle Trussoni: Hello out there. I’m Danielle Trussoni and books have been an immense part of my identity since I was a child. Libraries were my favorite places as a child, and I found comfort and hope in reading that, as I grew older, developed into a passion for writing. I’m now a New York Times bestselling novelist who has published five books (with another on the way soon) and a book columnist for The New York Times Book Review, where I write about gothic, horror, and speculative fiction. I was the 2020 Chair Jurist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (where I read hundreds of books with four other jurists), and I advocate for writers as a member of the board of the Authors Guild. So basically, I am surrounded by books at most times in my life and my shelves reflect that.
GI: What planted the seed of The Ancestor in your head?
DT: The Ancestor is the story of a woman whose life is upended by a DNA test. After taking a genetic test, Alberta “Bert” Monte is shocked to discover that she is the last living member of an aristocratic dynasty whose estate—a castle dating from the twelfth century in the Aosta Valley of the Italian Alps—now belongs to her. But it is only when she travels to Italy, and uncovers the terrible truth about her ancestry, that she understands that her personal secrets are as much a part of her inheritance as the castle.
The inception of this story began when I took a DNA test and had the surprise of my life. I was raised in a tight Italian American family, one where Catholic school and long Sunday lunches with stories of my great grandfather’s life in the Italian Alps were the hallmarks of our identity. I even have an Italian passport, and am a dual US-Italian citizen, because my grandparents never denounced their Italian citizenship. Therefore, I was astonished to discover, after taking a 23andMe test, that I am exactly 1.7% Italian. My sister took the test and her results were the same. We are more Irish and Norwegian than Italian, more British and German than Italian, a fact that shatters the cultural identity that was so very powerful in our childhood.
This surprise made me wonder: What could be the most shocking discovery to be found in one’s ancestry? We’ve all heard stories of a rich uncle dying and leaving an unsuspecting heir a fortune, but what about the windfalls (and pitfalls) of genetic inheritance? What does it mean for us that the genetic makeup of all human beings is 99.95% identical, and that only .05% accounts for all the differences of sex, race, health, disease and so on? As a fiction writer, I was interested in what could happen when a character’s genetic inheritance proved that her origins were outside of these percentages. What would it mean for Alberta? What would it mean for humanity? As Alberta discovers, everything that she believed about herself—and her species—can be turned on its head with one test.
GI: One of my favorite things about The Ancestor is that it brings together high-concept weirdness, literary fiction, mystery, drama, and cryptozoology and makes them dance with each other beautifully. How hard is it to pull that off? How do you keep yourself from writing the kind of pulp that many books with similar creatures offer?
DT: My debut novel was called Angelology, and it is a literary gothic novel that follows a woman into the realization that there are Nephilim—half human/half angelic creatures mentioned in the Bible—on earth, and that she has a mission to fight them. That book was written (in my mind!) as a literary novel, but it encompassed all the things that you mention: there’s a global historical mystery that arises from Biblical mythology, there is a lot of drama, there are creatures that may or may not be real. And above all, the writing mattered to me. I didn’t ever imagine that there was a certain way one was supposed to write a novel that is a page-turner. I have always written it with the same love of language that I write my “literary” memoirs (my first book, Falling Through the Earth, was one of The New York Times Book Review’s Best 10 Books of the Year, so it had a literary label). The Ancestor was created with the same passion for history, mythology, and language as Angelology and, I can say with great assurance, all of my novels will be. I write to explore language, push the boundaries between forms, and bring readers with me as I discover something new about existence. I wouldn’t write any other way.
GI: I’ve always read cryptozoology books and narratives that incorporate cryptozoology into the story somehow. I find them engaging and informative. Do you have some recommendations?
DT: I love literary gothic fiction that injects cryptozoology into the mix. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry is a favorite. This may be controversial, but I consider werewolves and vampires and monsters such as Grendel in Beowulf to be cryptozoology books, so my interpretation of this category is vast!
GI: The geographical and historical elements in The Ancestor are superb. How was the research for this novel?
DT: The research was one of my favorite experiences in writing this novel. My great grandparents had been born in the Italian Alps, and I decided that this romantic and foreboding setting would be perfect for The Ancestor. I went to the Aosta Valley, rented a car, and drove through the Alps near Mount Blanc. The novel is set in the fictional village of Nevenero, which means “Black Snow” for its position in the shadows below Mont Blanc. I actually stayed in a hotel in the very location I set the fictional castle in my novel. I also ate and drank a lot of the local food and wine, which was very tough work, but done in the spirit of writing the most authentic book possible.
GI: The Ancestor was a fresh book in the middle of the lockdown. How did you have to change your approach to getting the word out when the universe conspired to keep you at home?
DT: Like most authors, I had to quickly try to reschedule my book tour, which had been totally cancelled. The Ancestor was published the first week of April, one of the worst weeks, as libraries and bookstores (at least on the east coast) were closed, and events nationwide were cancelled. Many of the booksellers who had me coming to their store for live events weren’t ready or interested in having an online book event. I tried to organize my own, inviting people from social media to join me, but it was all quite new then. I’ve worked relentlessly since then to get the word out but, in publishing, when the window passes, it often passes for good. I’ve been lucky that the people who have read the book love it and recommend it. But honestly, The Ancestor didn’t sell well, and I’m waiting for some push from the gods to help bring it into the light so readers can discover it
GI: The house is on fire (it’s 2020, so don’t be too surprised). Your most valuable possessions and loved ones are already safe. You’re still inside and have two minutes to grab a handful of books before running out. What are you going to grab?
DT: My rare first edition copy of Sidonia the Sorceress by William Meinhold and translated by Lady Wilde (Oscar’s mother) published in 1926; the first editions of my novels Angelology, Angelopolis, and The Ancestor; and my copy of The Tempest that my uncle gave me.
GI: The Show Me Your Shelves interviews have taught me that many writers have unique ways of organizing their shelves. How do you go about it?
DT: Ok, my shelves are in my office, where I write every day. The primary factor is more motivation than reading. And so I have reserved the top shelves of my bookshelves for my books and my translations. I have books in thirty-three languages, so there are a lot of my books with different covers. This gives me a push when I feel like quitting (which is often). Then, I have novels by writers whose work I love and whose careers I admire. I have read all of these books, and I put them in prime position to, once again, give me something to aspire to. Then, on the bottom shelves are galleys, books I’ve just bought, and books I’ve been assigned to review.
GI: What books have you read this year that you think everyone should read and talk about?
DT: I love gothic literature in its many forms. There was a book published earlier this year (it feels like a lifetime ago!) called Things in Jars by Jess Kidd that I loved. I also loved Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which I feel is The Ancestor’s soulmate, and The Return by Rachel Harrison, a debut horror novel about female friendship that is simply fun to read.
GI: You want to bridge the gap between them and us, so you’re going to climb up that mountain carrying a backpack full of books you think will help them understand us better. What books are you bringing them?
DT: What a great question! Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Bible, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the collected Edgar Allen Poe.
Gabino Iglesias is a writer, professor, and book reviewer living in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Zero Saints and Coyote Songs and the editor of Both Sides: Stories from the Border. You can find him on Twitter @Gabino_Iglesias.
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