From Camilla: Boucheron, The World Mystery Convention

Camilla writes:

This weekend I was in Baltimore attending Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention. It’s the biggest of the many conventions, attended by most of the heavy hitters of mystery fiction.

I got a big bear hug from Harlan Coben which felt great, got to hear Margaret Maron, Gillian Roberts, Louise Ure, and Dorothy Cannell, who can make a stone burst out laughing. Laura Lippman was the guest of honor.

The best was discovering a new author-new only for me- John Harvey, who was the international guest of honor. I just finished reading the second book in his new series-Ash and Bone. I’m told he’s not that well known here and I can’t understand why. I avoid noir novels-reading the newspaper is enough bad news for me-but I couldn’t put Ash and Bone down. Gobbled it up in one day. Anyone who wants to learn about writing-genre or literary-should pick him up. His strong spare prose showed me how few words are needed to paint a heart grabbing picture. I will read more of him.

(Photo courtesy of Henry Chang)
Michael Genelin, Grace Bophy, Camilla Trinchieri and Henry Chang

I was on a panel with three other Soho authors titled “I’ll Take You There,” monitored by our publicity director, Sarah Reidy. The reason for the title- the other authors write series that take place in foreign lands or foreign cultures. Cara Black has bodies crop up in Paris, Grace Bophy in Umbria, Michael Genelin in Slovakia and Henry Chang in New York’s Chinatown. Despite the fact that The Price of Silence isn’t part of a series and it takes place in Manhattan, a young Chinese student is a pivotal character, which sort of made me fit in. Clever Sarah announced to the audience that since I was Italian, Manhattan was a foreign land in my eyes. Maybe they bought it.

That night-Friday-Sarah and Ailen Lujo, the marketing director, took us to a fun restaurant—The Bicycle—where we had a great time eating, drinking and getting to know each other. I spent Saturday attending panels, keeping an eye out for old acquaintances. I hadn’t gone to a mystery convention in over ten years. There were a lot of new faces, and for a bit I felt like a fish thrown out of water, but after sighting a few people I knew from the old days when I was writing the Simona Griffo series, I settled in.

(Photo courtesy of Henry Chang)

Mystery conventions are exciting and exhausting, and they are a necessary part of a crime writer’s life. For months, even years on end, we sit in front of a computer with only our characters for company. It feels good to break out and mingle with like-minded people. Some of the famous may not give you the time of day, some are still pushing to be better known, some are hopefuls who are eager to learn from you. All are lovers of writing. That’s the best company there is.

(Photo courtesy of Henry Chang)

In the very front row, from the left, Henry Chang, Cara Black and Camilla Trinchieri.

Italian Translator, Dr. Erika Bianchi

Dr. Erika Bianchi, the Italian translator of The Price of Silence is a professor at the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai. The Institute website has posted this about her:

"Dr. Erika Bianchi has expanded her list of accomplishments by translating The Price of Silence by Camilla Trinchieri into Il prezzo del silenzio.

When the original English edition was published in 2007 it garnered such reviews as “a taut psychological thriller…a gripping, intelligent read…a literary crime novel.”

Dr. Bianchi found the novel engrossing (“it grabs you in the gut and never lets you go”) and the work of translating it satisfying on a personal level (“it was like putting on a dress made just for you.”)

The rendering of American slang into the Italian vernacular presented particular difficulties, the solving of which went beyond literal translation. Prof. Bianchi handled the problem creatively, using contemporary Italian slang to convey the spirit of the original to a non-American audience."

Camilla Trinchieri to Teach Workshops for the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai

When Camilla Trinchieri was in Italy in June 2008 launching the Italian translation of The Price of Silence, translated by Dr. Erika Bianchi, the two of them became fast friends. Dr. Bianchi, Erika, accompanied Camilla at the book discussions and signings, receptions and gatherings.

Dr. Bianchi, teaches at the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai in Florence, Italy, and talked about Camilla's work with fellow colleagues. Before long there was an invitation for Camilla to come teach a couple of writing workshops.

The Institute's website says: "The workshops will be integrated into [...] Italian language classes, [and] will provide a unique opportunity for their students to ponder the different approaches to writing in Italian and English."

Take a look at a downtown Florence map of where the Institute is. What does Camilla think about this? You can imagine! But here's what she writes:

"I'm very excited about going there to teach for two weeks in November. Just the thought of the food starts my heart racing. Slow cooked white beans, pumpkin tortelloni in a burnt butter sauce, chicken with artichokes, boar sausages. I could go on forever. The only thing I don’t like about Tuscan food is the saltless bread."

So come November, Camilla will be back on a trans-Atlantic flight to Rome, and onto a train to Florence, for two weeks of talking and eating and eating and talking! That's the life!

MilanoNera Book Review Translated

Camilla Trinchieri has translated the September 2008 MilanoNera newspaper review of the Italian version of her book The Price of Silence:

"Choosing to write a psychological novel in the form of a legal thriller, Camilla Trinchieri creates a decisively beautiful book that infuses new life in a genre that has become stale and repetitive....And the author's remarkable ability to filter emotions through a seemingly (with An-ling one can never know) "Chinese" culture and sensibility imbues the novel with a special light."

Look at the statements the reviewer made!

"decisively beautiful book"
"infuses new life in a genre that has become stale and repetitive"
"author's remarkable ability to filter emotions through a seemingly [...] "Chinese" culture and sensibility"
"imbues the novel with a special light"

Another Interview! MilanoNERA

Another Italian interview with Camilla Trinchieri was printed in the September 2008 issue of the Milan, Italy newspaper, MilanoNERA.

Visit the MilanoNERA main site.
Read the full September issue.
Read a copy of the Italian interview interview.

Here's the Italian text from the review.

New York. Inizia il processo a Emma Perotti, insegnante italoamericana di mezza eta’, accusata di aver ucciso una sua studentessa cinese, l’enigmatica An-ling. Chi fosse veramente An-ling e quale fosse il legame che la univa a Emma viene rivelato gradualmente attraverso l’alternarsi delle varie fasi del processo ai ricordi di Emma, di suo figlio adolescente Josh e del marito Tom. Scegliendo di scrivere un romanzo psicologico nelle forme del legal thriller, Camilla Trinchieri realizza un libro decisamente bello, capace di infondere vita nuova a un genere sempre piu’ stantio e ripetitivo.

L’autrice, americana, ma di origine italiana e nata a Praga, rende senza fatica le diverse sfumature dei personaggi e i loro drammi, costruendo gradualmente attorno a loro una vicenda ambigua pur nella sua semplicita’. Alla fine, come in Rashomon, la verita’ rimarra’ inconoscibile; ma, per la cultura occidentale, potrebbe anche essere sufficiente un ragionevole dubbio…

Oltre a un’avvincente vicenda processuale, il libro offer un’analisi rigorosa e senza sconti delle tensioni che dilaniano la famiglia media americana. Ogni carattere e’ delineato con precisione: Emma, tormentata da un’antica tragedia, che cerca un riscatto nella pulsione materna verso una ragazza spuntata dal nulla; il figlio, combattuto fra emozioni infantili e la scoperta adolescenziale dell’erotismo, il marito, inconsapevolmente meschino ed egoista. Ma sopra tutto svetta il personaggio di An-ling, ragazza cinese tenerissima e bugiarda, singolarmente infantile e dura, morbosamente bisognosa di affetto ma nel contempo capace di manipolare le persone ai propri fini. E la singolare capacita’ dell’autrice di filtrare le emozioni attraverso una cultura e una sensibilita’ apparentemente (con An-ling non si puo’ mai dire) “cinesi”, investe il libro di una luce speciale.

The Cure for the Wait

Friends around me are bemoaning the end of summer, but I’m eager to move forward, hunker down to work on something new. I gave myself a break after I shipped Finding Alice off to the Italian publisher. I did a pastel portrait of a beautiful friend, painted a new baby’s name on paper (an apple for an “a,” an eye for an “e” and so forth), water-colored flowers on notes thanking friends for delicious dinners. I even tried to play golf with disastrous results. Mostly I waited. To hear if the agent I’d queried wanted to read Alice, to hear if it was a go with the Italians. Waiting, that’s part of the job description of a writer. Wait for an agent, wait for a publisher, wait for the reviews, wait for the royalty statement. I hate it.

There’s only one cure for it—plunge into a new world of my own making. Easier said than done. Where’s the idea? I do want to write a historical, something from way back. I’ve gone so far as to order a book about the period I’m interested in, but the historical needs at least two years of research and I need to write now.

I put the research book on my night table and dug into other books--Story of a Marriage, The Maytrees, Out Stealing Horses and two dread-provoking books by Ruth Rendell. Reading makes me want to write all the more, but I still didn’t have an idea.

A few weeks ago, I met three women for our monthly lunch. An out-of-town friend of one of them joined us. Diane had rented an apartment in the city for a month from a landlord she had never met before, and when she walked into the living room she saw something that startled her. It wasn’t anything scary, just odd. We continued to chat about other things—mostly politics given the times—but my mind’s eye held on to the scene of Diane walking into a home she’d never been in before, owned by someone she’d never met and seeing…what? I can’t say because there it was—the seed of an idea.

I let it sit in a warm nook of my brain to sprout. As the days passed a few tiny leaves began to show, but it’s still pretty weak. I have a premise that involves two women, a man, changing names, an old crime. No title. No middle. No end. That’s normal for me. I like to discover as I write.

The first scene unspooled in my head in the early hours of last week. I’m only half awake at five, six o’clock in the morning, but it’s a magical time for me. The world hasn’t entered my consciousness yet. The only sounds might be from my husband’s soft breaths or the birds on our neighbors’ terrace—reassuring sounds. I keep my eyes closed and start weaving a new world.

In my fully awake hours I’ve been jotting down notes on whatever pieces of paper I find handy at the moment I need them. They’re barely legible and full of scratched out lines, but it doesn’t matter. I’m ready to take the plunge. Wish me luck.

Camilla Trinchieri: Reflecting on Italy, Finding Alice

Camilla writes:

I’ve been home for a month, still in the glow of those wonderful two weeks in Florence and Rome to launch the Italian version of The Price of Silence. Every day I’ve wanted to write about those weeks, but first it was jet lag and then my new novel, which I thought I had finished before leaving, needed a good sweep of the broom.

This new one, Finding Alice, a fictionalized version of my mother’s life in Prague and Rome during WWII, is the story that started me writing in the first place many years ago. The story which turned into my MFA thesis at Columbia. The story that required years of research. The story into which I poured my heart. Now it’s done (unless an editor says otherwise). I’m proud of it. Last week I sent it to my Italian publisher. They had asked to read it as soon as I was finished. After treating me like a literary queen with Price, I was only too happy to have them as my first official readers.

Now that I’m waiting to hear from them, waiting to hear from an agent, (first requirement to be a writer-Patience), I console myself by traveling back to my two weeks of glory.

I’m in a whirlwind of emotions. I’m reading, speaking, breathing Italian, trying to conquer the fear that I will stumble over words during an interview, give a stupid answer to an intelligent question, simply because the Italian words don’t come to me. I end up getting lots of intelligent questions—I am being treated as a serious writer—which allows me to entertain the thought that my novel inspired them.

It’s a good thing I’ve gone over a week ahead of time. I always stay with an Italian friend when I go to Rome and we sit at her kitchen table and chat and chat and my vowels open up, my r’s trill, the vocabulary comes rolling back. When I face a room full of prospective readers in the Florence bookstore, the words come pouring out for an hour and a half. I even tear a little because I’m so happy that Price is in both of my languages. I tell them that ever since I left Rome for New York, I have felt split in half. Now I feel whole.

Between the media buzz, I reconnect with friends, family. I walk the streets of Rome and go back in time. I see the street corner with the flower vendor from whom I bought lilies once for my sister, who has since died, the restaurant where I used to gobble down pizza on Sunday nights with the man I thought was the love of my life, the palazzo that used to be the Foreign Ministry where my father worked.

But the Rome that for years stood still for me is changing. Many reference points are gone. Stores, restaurants no longer there. Life moves on even in the Eternal City. I don’t like it much. I know, letting go of the past is a good thing, but the past is where my writing heart lives. The past looms heavily in all my novels. But I do look forward to what’s ahead. A possible “it’s a go,” from the Italian publisher, a “gripping from beginning to end,” from an American agent. And maybe this time it will be something in the future that will give me an idea for my next novel.

Well, to tell the truth, I’ve been thinking of a historical, something from way back, say, 4000 B.C.

I almost forgot- during my visit to Florence I was asked by the head of The Institute at Palazzo Rucellai to teach six creative writing classes the last two weeks of November. Turkeys are readily available, but I’ve already asked my friend and translator, Erika, to scout out where we’ll be able to buy sweet potatoes. I’ll bring the marshmallows.

Why do I need a translator if I’m boasting that I was spewing out Italian with no trouble at all? Well, the only Italian school I went to was kindergarten with the nuns. About the only Italian writing I could manage is a book for two year-olds. As for speaking, if you shake your hands around a lot with a smile you can get away with murder.

Giancarlo De Cataldo & Camilla Trinchieri in Rome

Giancarlo De Cataldo & Camilla Trinchieri in Rome

Categories for Camilla Trinchieri's Il prezzo del silenzio

Camilla Trinchieri's The Price of Silence, and its Italian translation, Il prezzo del silenzio get categorized in a variety of ways. Knowing that it doesn't fit neatly, and solely, in one kind of literary category is valuable if you're searching for reviews on the internet, or looking for a copy of the book in a store.

The Price of Silence has been categorized in these ways:
psychological thriller, mystery, murder, literary, literature, suspense

Il prezzo del silenzio has been categorized as:
romanzo, romanzi stranieri, romanzi contemporanei, narrativa straniera, narrativa contemporanea, giallo (gialli), letteratura straniera, letteratura statunitense, romanzo giallo

Publicity Comes in Surprising Ways

In researching reviews of Camilla Trinchieri's books in English and Italian, one story kept surfacing, over and over and over: the story about an overdue library book, Camilla Trinchieri's The Price of Silence. The woman who borrowed the book was an avid reader, and died with the book still in her possession. When the book was returned overdue, the library apparently insisted that the 50 cent charge be paid.


This story has resurfaced in blog after blog in multiple languages. Can you believe how many!


Impromptu Librarian

Fox News

CBS11 TV - Dallas

ABC Local - Philly

Wilx.com News 10 - Michigan

The Final Taxi

an Ebay Blog

WayOdd.com

clipmarks

Fly the World blog

Free Republic

SimpleBrowser

Unbelievable Facts

WaarMaarRaar - Netherlands

Knurps - NL

Ron'sLog

StudentStyle - NL

ENTRESSEIO - Brazil

Noticias.Terra.com - Brazil

Topix.com - from Associated Press

The Brea Canyon Monument

Common Sense Logic

Digital Journal 549 views, 13 comments

The Pakistan Daily Times

CaptainDramaticsMom Blog

MadConomist

SP Times of Florida

Metro.co.uk under Weird

Right-Mind from Idaho

Jobsworth at Guy-Sports.com

NieuwsEnzo.info German?

The Blogs at Trentonian

UPI.com Watercooler Stories

Inthekut Blog

Bally Blog - Anything and Everything

I'm unusual.com

MyPNW.com from the Pacific North West, reprinted the article and cited the original as being LoHud.com, from New York's Lower Hudson Valley at this link: http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007709260369. But the link no longer works.

AOL India News

Mangialibri Interview with Camilla Trinchieri Translated

Here is the English translation of the Mangialibri interview with Camilla Trinchieri that was posted earlier in this blog.

Interview with Camilla Trinchieri by David Frati of Mangialibri

I:A wound, something painful, is hidden behind the story you tell in The Price of Silence. Maybe more than one. Which one do you identify with—the wound coming from An-Ling’s childhood or the one Emma, the protagonist, bears as a mother filled with guilt?

C:My wound is more like An-ling’s, than Emma’s. I too didn’t have a mother. That’s my starting point, even for the lighter stories, the ones you can leave on a seat at the airport. I decided to start writing January 1st, 1986 .I remember that I came home with an idea in my head and I told my husband, “Do you mind if tonight you make dinner?” I wanted to write the story of my mother, but I needed to do a lot of research. I was born in Prague and it was still communist then. To obtain a visa took at least eight months. I would have had to wait without writing, but friends dissuaded me [from stopping] and I decided to write other stories in the meantime. I was working in an advertising agency at the time and my boss refused to give me a raise. I decided to write a novel in which he was murdered. That was the beginning of seven mysteries starring Simona Griffo, an Italian (the reviewer says Italian-American but he’s wrong), who loves art and cooking. They were published under the pseudonym of Camilla Crespi. At a certain point I said stop and decided to use my real name for this story, which isn’t autobiographical.

I: The novel has been translated from English into Italian, a language that you speak and write. What effect did it have on you to be translated in a language that you understand so well? It’s not something that happens everyday to a writer…

C: Having Erika Bianchi translate me into Italian was an incredible joy. I felt myself Italian and American at the same time; I felt whole. It was such a natural process that at a certain point I began to think that the book had even been thought in Italian. Only a few times did I have difficulties understanding a few convoluted passages, but then the original English would disappear and I found myself reading my book. It felt as if the translator no longer existed, that I had done everything.

I: Do you define The Price of Silence a legal thriller? What role does the trial have in your novel?

C: The trial wasn’t in the first draft. I thought of including it to help guide me through the story, but I asked myself: what do I know about trails? It just so happened that I was chosen to be part of a jury in a real trial, and seeing how the American judicial system worked ‘from the inside’ helped me pull it off. It wasn’t a murder trial, however. A guy had stolen $70,000 dollars from his sister.

I: What writers do you look to as reference points?

C: Henry James more than anyone else, even though when I first read him I found his spiraling narration heavy-going. Only when I started writing did I understand that he only hints at things. He never describes a situation openly. He circles around facts; he doesn’t reveal them. For my formation as a reader and a writer, Agatha Christie and all the mystery classics were also very important.

[David Frati-translated by Camilla Trinchieri]

Reviews - The Price of Silence "Engrossing and Fascinating"

"Anyone interested in a story that places heavy emphasis on the complexity of human personality will find this to be an engrossing and fascinating tale. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED."

- John A Broussard

From I Love A Mystery Newsletter June 2008

Ghigliottina

Ghigliottina's Matteo Chiavarone gave a strongly positive review of Camilla Trinchieri's Italian translation of The Price of Silence, Il prezzo del silenzio, in the June 30th edition (ANNO II Num. 26-27 del 30 Giugno 2008).

Quoted in Italian from the page long review:

"Un libro che ti costringe ad andare avanti, ti coinvolge. Una prova di valore a cui bisogna dare merito a lei, che si farà sicuramente conoscere, e alla casa editrice che ha creduto fortemente in lei. "

English translation:

"A book that forces you to keep going, that involves you.

A worthy effort for which we must give praise both to her [the author], who will surely make herself known, and to the publishing house who strongly believed in her."

Italian Mangia Libri Interviews Camilla Trinchieri

Italian Mangia Libri posts an interview with Camilla Trinchieri about Il prezzo del silenzio.

Click the link to read Intervista a Camilla Trinchieri.

Camilla Trinchieri in Florence

Fahrenheit Site for Camilla Trinchieri

Here's Radio3 Fahrenheit's site for Camilla Trinchieri's Il prezzo del silenzio:



The review starts out well. Even us only partially literate in Italian can tell that "perfetto" means "perfect!"

"Un perfetto romanzo di detection ...."

The interview can be listened to as a PODCAST.

Raving Review: BookLoons

This just off the net. A review by Tim Davis at BookLoons.com:

"The Price of Silence - gripping and powerful as a tale of passion, sorrow, duplicity, guilt, and redemption - is a narrative told in alternating points of view: Emma's, Tom's, and Josh's. With the progress of Emma's murder trial unfolding throughout the novel, with flashback perspectives from the key characters, and with the truth about An-Ling being gradually revealed through her recovered e-mails, The Price of Silence gradually builds to a fierce crescendo within which unutterable obsessions, family tragedies, and intense secrets collide in a pulse-pounding conclusion.

As a mystery, thriller, and psychological drama, Camilla Trinchieri's spell-binding novel is a first-class literary achievement. Don't miss it! "

BookLoons.com

June 25 2008 - THE day in the life of a book translator and her author!

Erika Bianchi, translator for Il prezzo del silenzio sent in her June 25, 2008 "Il prezzo del silenzio" Day schedule.

Breaking news update. Hot off the net. Temperatures in Rome exceeding hot!
Around 800 degrees Celsius! (says Erika!)

• 7, 30 leave home and buy l'Unità, VERY FAMOUS AND READ (leftist) newspaper to read the interview with Camilla Trinchieri (Update: interview wasn't in today's edition)
  
• 7,50 train from Florence to Rome
• 9,30 arrival in Rome, meet up with Camilla at the station
• 9,31 buy Anna, another VERY FAMOUS AND READ MAGAZINE with a piece (of undefined nature) on Prezzo
• 10 am - 3 pm preparation for the race!
• 3,30 taxi to RAI studios
• 4,20-5,20 Camilla's interview at Farhenheit
  
• 5,30 fastest possible taxi to Feltrinelli bookstore in the city center
• 6 book reading
• 7,30 two more interviews for journalists, bloggers etc.
• 8,30 dinner with publishers
• 11 pm ... Total COLLAPSE!
  

Prezzo listed in top ten sellers at Nuovo Minerva Ingrosso

Il prezzo del silenzio is listed in the top ten selling books on the Nuova Minerva Ingrosso site, currently at #8!

"Prezzo" showing up in MySpace, Blogs

Dimibox on MySpace has recently listed Il prezzo del silenzio among his books.

Camiz on his WordPress Blog posted the book covers.

Italian Literature Review.


To date, 9 people have listed "Prezzo" on their shelves at aNobii


Mappi on an Italian social networking site called Splinder.

Parola del Giorno.

In raraMente.net.

The Mystery Gazette.

Thriller Magazine.

RTL 102.5 Non Stop News - Audio Interview

Radio interview on RTL 102.5 in Italian with Camilla Trinchieri. Listen here!

Il prezzo del silenzio, un thriller psicologico della scrittrice italo-americana Camilla Trinchieri: intervista all'autrice

Marcos Y Marcos Florence Event Photos

Check out the good photos from the Florence Il prezzo del silenzio book launch. Marcos Y Marcos, the publisher has posted them, with a great quote from Camilla.

From the June 19 presentation at the Edison di Firenze bookstore in Florence.
"Sono contenta di essere qui; per via di mio padre, e di una fetta della mia vita, mi sento italiana per metà. Scrivo in inglese, vivo a New York da ventotto anni, ma ho sempre portato l'Italia dentro di me. Vedere il mio romanzo pubblicato qui mi ha fatto sentire completa".

(Tentative English translation!)

"I am happy to be here; through my father, and through one of my life accomplishments, I feel part Italian. I write in English, live in New York for twenty years now, but have always carried Italy inside me. To see my book published here makes me feel complete."

Photos

Camilla Trinchieri and her translator, Erika Bianchi.

Florence Book Reading

Camilla Trinchieri and her translator Erika Bianchi, with two other authors spoke to a gathering of over 50 people, with much laughter, applause and book buying!

Camilla in white, at center. Erika in black, on the left side of the photo.

GRAZIA Magazine: Book Review

Camilla Trinchieri at NewMonde Chinese restaurant in Cary, North Carolina

The GRAZIA magazine Il prezzo del silenzio review was published with the photo above. The magazine isn't available on the internet to link to, so we've translated the review.

Blog writer comment: If there's a category for 'haiku' book reviews, this one would be a close candidate! Part of it is the Italian phrasing, which makes for swift reading in Italian, and a little abruptness in English. It's like translating from Chinese. Same thing. Abrupt, but the short phrases are so readily absorbed... except, perhaps the last line. And what do you make of the second to the last line! Is that a friendly "clearly written by a woman," or a less-than-friendly "clearly written by a woman?" It's a woman's magazine, does that help us know?

The GRAZIA Magazine review of Il prezzo del silenzio, translated into English:

Emma, a welcoming woman, teaches English to immigrants and opens the door of her home to An-ling, inviting her to stay with her family: husband and son. But the young Chinese woman dies and Emma is put on trial for her murder.

An-ling, the mysterious woman, has knocked down the wall of silence, but the truth has crushed her and the family. A novel clearly written by a woman. Background of denunciation.

From Rome to Florence, Before the Book Presentation

From Camilla:

A whirlwind of emotions. In the midst of the excitement over the Italian edition of The Price of Silence, I’m reconnecting with friends who are pouring out their feelings, their fears, sometimes, not often enough, their joys. I listen and feel with them, for them and wish I could be with them more often.

I’m reading, speaking, breathing Italian. I walk the streets of Rome and go back in time, looking at the street corner where I bought my sister some lilies for her birthday, the restaurant where I gobbled down pizza after seeing Woody Allen’s Manhattan with friends, the palazzo that used to be the Foreign Ministry where my father worked. But Rome, that for years stood still, is changing. A lot of old reference points are gone. I don’t like it. I selfishly want the milestones of my memories to be there always, even as I realize that to let go of the past is a good thing.

I’ve just arrived in Florence. I’m staying at Erika’s house. She’s the Italian translator, who has become a close friend. She fed me a wonderful champagne and salmon risotto, lots of white wine. Tomorrow night the book presentation. I’m thrilled and scared at the same time. I don’t know what to expect. Thank God Erika is here to give me courage. She has a lot of friends. They will be coming for her and, if they are half as welcoming and generous as she is, it will be a memorable evening.

Italian Radio 3 Fahrenheit! June 25 4PM - 5:20

(Imaged aggregated by A. McGaha, using 2 Radiotre Fahrenheit logos, combined with created text image of interview details.)

The Italian Radio 3 program, FAHRENHEIT, will be interviewing author Camilla Trinchieri one week from today, Wednesday June 25, between 4 and 5:20 pm in Rome, Italy. (So far we haven't seen this information posted on the Website.)

For those who didn't know, Fahrenheit is considered, the best, most serious, most intellectual, most followed, most famous, most reliable and most trusted radio program about books in Italy. When the anchorman, Marino Sinibaldi, recommends a book, people listen!

We're hoping the recording, for those of you who can understand Italian, will be posted on the Fahrenheit site http://www.radio.rai.it/RADIO3/FAHRENHEIT/index.cfm.

Maybe we'll be able to hear the interview live from remote locations. The station has online listening; frequencies all over Italy; and both webcam and podcasts. We'll have to see what's available that day for Fahrenheit. Listen online. If in Italy, here are the station frequencies by city. Radio 3 Webcam.

Radiotre FAHRENHEIT interview with Camilla Trinchieri
Wednesday June 25, 4- 5:20 PM, Rome, Italy

D la Repubblica delle Donne

Review of Camilla Trinchieri's Il prezzo del silenzio in major Italian woman's magazine! From D la Repubblica delle Donne:

Segreti in terra straniera A volte l'ingresso di uno sconosciuto nella vita delle persone produce l'apertura di faglie, smottamenti, valanghe. Soprattutto se è inquieto e irresistibilmente fragile come An-ling, l'artista cinese che un giorno si presenta al corso per stranieri a New York in cui Emma insegna inglese. Il romanzo di Camilla Trinchieri si apre in medias res: An-ling è stata uccisa, Emma è indagata, i testimoni ricostruiscono per la giuria una storia che, come sempre accade, è più complessa e dilaniante di come appaia. Emma custodisce nel segreto della sua intimità l'incidente in cui ha ucciso una figlia di due anni, il marito Tom ancora gliene vuole e il figlio adolescente Josh non sa nulla di quel passato. An-ling, col suo carico di dolore, andrà a scardinare e a esporre i segreti di ognuno. An-ling, o dell'ambiguità. Un personaggio di pura fantasia?

"Sì e no. Anch'io, come lei, mi sono sentita "straniera" in America. Mi sono trasferita perché la mia vita personale stava andando alla deriva. Avevo lavorato con Fellini in La città delle donne e la sua cartomante mi aveva predetto che negli Usa avrei trovato la mia realizzazione. All'inizio, però, è stata durissima. Vendevo la pasta De Cecco a Little Italy, e per molto tempo mi sono sentita persa, senza radici, mi tenevo a galla senza intravedere una prospettiva. Ho conosciuto il mio attuale marito dopo una settimana dal mio arrivo, ma entrambi eravamo così spaventati dall'idea di rientrare in un rapporto amoroso che la cosa ci ha messo tre anni ad accadere".

An-ling agisce come una bomba nella vita apparentemente tranquilla di questa insegnante italiana... "È sempre un elemento esterno a far piazza pulita delle difese che ci si è attentamente costruiti. Emma e Tom hanno sepolto per anni la rabbia e la disperazione per la morte della loro bambina. An-ling risveglia in Emma l'amore materno che ha sempre avuto paura di dare al secondo figlio Josh. In Tom risveglia la rabbia sopita. In Josh la curiosità adolescenziale per la sessualità, tanto più che né lui né il padre riescono a decifrare la natura del rapporto tra Emma e An-ling". Nel finale sembra che l'organismo-famiglia digerisca il crimine... "Ma siamo sicuri che sia stato un crimine? Henry James parla di "fatal futility of fact". Sono d'accordo, la realtà è ben altro che oggettività. Ora tocca al lettore interpretarla".

Monica Capuani - Camilla Trinchieri, Il prezzo del silenzio, Marcos y Marcos, 16 euro "

From DLib Dmemory


D la Repubblica delle donne no 601, 34 D lib, p34
[http://periodici.repubblica.it/d/?num=601]

Reviews on the Marcos Y Marcos Website

Link to Marcos Y Marcos.

Note from Camilla on her Trip to Rome - A Homecoming

Camilla writes:

Tomorrow I leave for Rome where I lived and worked for seventeen years. I go every year to see family, friends, to reconnect with my Italian self.

This year is different. My book, The Price of Silence, has been translated into Italian. My heart started dancing when I found out and hasn’t stopped. I’m half Italian (on my father’s side) and half American and living in one country and then the other, I have always felt split in two. Now I’m whole thanks to this book, to my words being in both languages. I feel such joy. Yes, it’s wonderful to have the book sold to another country. The money is nice and it’s flattering. One can hope it will sell well, hope royalties will come in. That’s all true and I’m not denying that it’s part of my joy, but there’s so much more. Jeffrey, a friend of mine, put it in a nutshell. “It’s a homecoming,” he said.

I’m spending a week in Rome to catch up with everyone.

Then off to Florence on the 19^th for what the Italians call a "book presentation" during which a well-known author will introduce me and chat with me about the books.

My translator, Erika Bianchi, is from Florence and she’s promised me she’ll fill the bookshop, which is great. I’ve sat behind a desk in too many bookstores waiting and chatting with the staff. Afterwards we’re going to go off with her friends to a nearby bar for a glass of wine and some delicious munchies. After a few days in Florence I’m going back to Rome for more family and friends and one more presentation.

Then back to New York and my next story.

Erika Bianchi, the translator-she’s great, a redhead with the most enormous blue eyes I’ve ever seen. She’s a classics professor who teaches American students during their junior year abroad and in summer programs. I got a chance to meet her here in New York when she came to visit her best friend, who just happens to live a few blocks from me in Greenwich Village. Erika’s translation is lovely. Not once did I miss my English sentences. I felt as if I had written them, as if the story had been conceived in Italian. I still speak the language well (fluently when I left 28 years ago), but the only Italian school I went to was kindergarten with the nuns. My writing is filled with errors, with Americanisms. I’m lucky that the Italian publisher, Marcos y Marcos hired Erika.

But then the transformation of The Price of Silence into Il prezzo del silenzio has been filled with luck. I’m riding high right now. And even if the book sells only modestly I’ll still have the sensation that the two sides of me have finally come together. And I’ll still be happy. Maybe it doesn’t make much sense, but it’s given me an ecstatic feeling I’m not going to cross examine.

Ciao

Camilla Trinchieri Tops Marcos Y Marcos' Website

Marcos and Marcos has placed author Camilla Trinchieri to the center top of their main website.

Grazia Magazine to talk about Il prezzo del silenzio

Stay posted! Grazia magazine, one of the premier ladies magazines in Italy will have an article on Il prezzo del silenzio!

Here's the link to the Grazia blog.

A sample cover of the Italian GRAZIA magazine is below. Click for subscription info!

And in more stores!

Take a look at Il prezzo del silenzio in bookstores in Italy.

Il prezzo del silenzio is in stores in Italy

Italian Radio Interviews Author

Two Italian radio stations have interviewed Camilla about her book Il prezzo del silenzio, and about her upcoming visit to Italy. We're hoping the interviews will be recorded for online listening, stay posted. The daughter of an Italian diplomat, and having lived many years in Rome, Camilla is fluent in Italian; both interviews were in Italian.

La Feltrinelli bookstore in Rome Announces Event

Marcos Y Marcos Events Page

Marcos Y Marcos Website for Il prezzo del silenzio

Italian Publisher Marcos Y Marcos Lists Author Readings

On the events page for Italian publisher Marcos Y Marcos, the Camilla Trinchieri events in Florence and Rome are listed. In the photos on the page for previous author readings, you can see Camilla's book cover on the wall.

Invitation to June 19th Reading in Florence, Italy at 18:30

Invitation to Book Reading in Rome, Italy - June 25 6PM

The invitation is published.

Camilla Trinchieri will be reading from the Italian translation of The Price of Silence, Il Prezzo del silenzio in Rome, Italy on Wednesday, June 25, at 6pm.

Le Librerie Feltrinelli
via del Babuino 39/40
Rome, Italy
tel: 06 36001842

For a larger version, scroll to the bottom of the page.

Price of Silence Book Reviews

Here are links to some of the many book reviews on The Price of Silence.
You can also find highlights of many of the reviews on the Reviews page of the Camilla Trinchieri Website.

US Amazon.com

Genre Go Round Reviews, May 22, 2008

Gumshoe Review June 2008

Australia's Chaos.com

Canada's Amazon.ca

On Writing: Writing My Way Home

Camilla writes about how she began writing during a new phase in her life:


I left Rome in the summer of 1980, eager to make a new life for myself in America like so many Italians before me. New York City was the only possible choice for my new home. I had two wonderful, supportive friends from my college days at Barnard and those four years in the city--during which I played, sometimes studied and above all discovered my independence--were the best years of my life. Or so I remembered, which is all that counts.

to continue click here

Author to Launch Italian edition of Price of Silence in Italy

Author, Camilla Trinchieri, will be returning to her Italian roots to launch Il prezzo del silenzio, The Price of Silence, in its Italian translation.

Trinchieri will be reading at these book stores in Italy:

Libreria Edison in Piazza della Reppublica in Florence
Feltrinelli bookstore (The Barnes & Noble of Italy) in Rome

The Price of Silence (Paperback)

The Price of Silence (Paperback)
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Soho Press (June 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1569474974
ISBN-13: 978-1569474976
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches

Reviews
Amazon.com; CamillaTrinchieri.com; Amazon.ca ;

Il Prezzo del Silenzio

The Price of Silence now translated into Italian by Erika Bianchi!
Available in Italy in stores now.


This summary in Italian from RARAMente.net:

Manhattan.

Emma insegna inglese agli immigrati, è sposata e ha un figlio adolescente.
È accusata di aver ucciso An-ling, la ragazza con cui ha convissuto qualche mese. Mentre il processo incalza, e i testimoni consegnano i loro frammenti di verità, Emma, il marito Tom e il figlio Josh, a turno, ci confidano i retroscena del loro rapporto con An-ling. An-ling scivola nella classe di Emma una mattina, con l’aria spaurita. Parla a stento l’inglese, sostiene di essere appena arrivata dalla Cina. Emma l’accoglie d’impulso nella sua famiglia e nella sua vita. Ma An-ling si rivela sfuggente e selvatica, spiazza tutti con le sue provocazioni, le sue bugie, la sua determinazione a scavare nel passato di quella famiglia apparentemente normale. In un crescendo di tensione, affiorano emozioni sepolte nel cuore di ciascuno: ferite ancora aperte e nuovi potenti desideri, sempre più clandestini, sempre più pericolosi. Tutto fa pensare che sia stata Emma a uccidere An-ling, ma pian piano emerge che anche Tom, e persino Josh, avrebbero avuto un buon motivo per farlo. E il dubbio domina fino all’ultima pagina.

An-ling, ragazza misteriosa, ha abbattuto il muro del silenzio: verrà travolta da troppe verità.

Camilla Trinchieri nasce a Praga, figlia di un diplomatico italiano e di un’americana. Gira il mondo, studia a New York e va a vivere a Roma. Per diciassette anni lavora nel cinema come assistente al doppiaggio; è orgogliosa di aver lavorato con Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Lina Wertmüller, Marcello Mastroianni, Sofia Loren. Poi la sua vita privata va in tilt e Camilla decide di lasciare l’Italia. Un lettore di tarocchi le rivela che a New York si sarebbe ricongiunta con il lato più creativo di sé. Nell’attesa si guadagna da vivere vendendo pasta De Cecco a Little Italy. Raccontando la sua nuova vita in lunghe lettere agli amici romani, scopre il piacere di narrare.

Storie di donne, sentimenti, misteri, con il punto di vista peculiare di una newyorkese nata a Praga che si sente molto italiana. I primi libri li firma Camilla Crespi: Trinchieri è difficile da pronunciare. Per Il prezzo del silenzio usa il suo vero nome perché ci ha messo tutta se stessa. Camilla divide il suo tempo tra il Greenwich Village, dove abita e scrive, e Brooklyn, dove dipinge. Si ritiene molto fortunata perché passa le giornate facendo quello che le piace e le notti con l’uomo che ama.

Camilla Trinchieri
IL PREZZO DEL SILENZIO
320 pagine, 16 euro
traduzione di Erika Bianchi

IN LIBRERIA DAL 29 MAGGIO 2008
Marcos Y Marcos

Added: April 30th 2008
Reviewer: redazione raraMente.net

"The Trouble With" Series listed in "Mysteriously Disapppearing" Listmania List

Camilla Trinchieri's The Trouble With series was listed in an Amazon Listmania! list called:

More Mysteriously Disappearing Mystery Series, A Listmania! list by A. Sugarman "book maven" (San Francisco, CA United States)

The Trouble with a Hot Summer

The Trouble with a Hot Summer
A Simona Griffo Mystery
by Camilla T. Crespi
June 1997, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-017662-8

Where I Get My Ideas

I was staying at a friend's cottage out in East Hampton. Looking out of her picture window in the very early morning I saw a man row across the window's view. An hour later I saw him row back into view. When I asked my friend about him, she explained he had suffered a heart attack and rowed for exercise every morning without fail. Intrigued by the words "without fail" I watched him the next morning and wondered, what if he doesn't come back?

Setting

Long Island -- East Hampton, Springs, South Hampton hospital, Sag Harbor.
New York City -- Upper West Side, Union Square, Greenwich Village.
Plot

Simona is at the end of a troubled vacation with Stan and Willy in the Hamptons when she shares iced coffee and a foggy dawn with Springs resident and advertising genius, Bud Warren. Mistaking Simona for a licensed P.I., thanks to the maneuverings of Simona's friend Dmitri, Bud asks Simona to investigate his ex-wife's death from drowning exactly one year ago. Bud swears it was murder even though the police decreed suicide. There's a heat wave going on and Simona agrees to meet Bud that evening in the cool waters of Gardiner's Bay to discuss the matter further. The only problem is that Bud never comes back from his morning row.

Recurring Characters

* Stan and Willy Greenhouse
* Dmitri K.
* Raf Garcia, Stan's partner
* Gregory Price, Simona's co-worker

Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Crespi softens the dark edges of her mystery with deft humor, allowing Simona to enjoy the Hamptons' hot spots, rub elbows with celebs and entertain a mild flirtation with the owner of a trendy restaurant. The mix of breezy vacation fun and somber matters of death, passion and art provides the tension needed to make this a sultry summer read.

Mostly Murder
A brisk mystery and a fun read and Camilla Crespi is one hot writer.

Mystery News
For well-knit stories told in a humorous vein Crespi is right up there with today's best.

The Boston Sunday Globe
The dialogue is lively, the mystery reasonably mysterious, and the sense of place is appealing.

The Beginning

That magical light that enticed countless artists was gone. Gardiner's Bay, twenty feet ahead, had disappeared during the night like Brigadoon. The white windmill of Gardiner's Island across the bay had turned into a memory. It was an August Sunday in Springs, a hamlet just north of East Hampton on Long Island, New York. At 6:03 AM the temperature was seventy-four degrees. The sun a white blister wrapped in gray gauze. Depending on your mood, the fog was dreary, romantic or scary.

Bud Warren was unusually talkative. "The ugly cliché. Greed and vanity destroying nature's beauty." He wiped his forehead with a tanned, gnarled hand. "When I first came out here in '56, the place was still unspoiled." Bud poured coffee. "This heat we've been getting? Man-made. Ozone layer's thinner than a Park Avenue wife."

The Hamptons was expected to reach ninety-three for the fourth day in a row. New York City, one hundred again. This was the third morning Bud and I met at this hour. We'd mostly stared at the water's edge and the fog beyond.

More

Recipe -- Cool Pasta

Serves four

* 4 ears of corn
* 4 large ripe tomatoes
* 2 bunches scallions
* 4 tbsp. olive oil
* 1 cup loosley packed basil leaves
* 5 large fresh mint leaves
* 1 lb. pasta shells
* salt and pepper to taste

Cut corn off the cobs with a serrated knife. Reserve the cobs. Seed and dice the tomatoes. Trim and thinly slice the scallions, including the light green part.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the scallions and sauté over medium heat for 3 minutes. Mix in corn. Cook for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and season vegetables well with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes more.

Tear basil and mint leaves. Remove skillet from heat and add leaves. Allow the vegetables to cool in a large serving bowl.

Add the reserved cobs to a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta shells.

When shells are al dente (approx. 12 mins), drain and remove cobs. Add pasta to vegetables in bowl. Mix well, check for seasoning, and serve.

Buon appetito!

The Trouble with a Bad Fit

The Trouble with a Bad Fit
A Simona Griffo Mystery
by Camilla T. Crespi
1996, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-109-4080, Harper Paperbacks, ISBN 0-06-109408-0

Where I Get My Ideas

Working with several fashion accounts during my advertising days, I became fascinated with the business of clothes. With Bad Fit I got a chance to study the rag trade and find out how a piece of cloth develops into a dress and tons of hype. I did a lot of research for this book, hanging out in a design studio and at the Fashion Institute of Technology library. I came up with a lot of information that I was afraid to include in the book for fear of slowing the mystery down, so I added "fashion footnotes" in the back of the book for those readers who want to know more. The rag trade the way it was known to the countless immigrants who survived on it is disappearing. As a recent immigrant I wanted to tip my hat to that business.

In this one, I also got a chance to pit Stan against Simona as they work on the same case. I guess I like to test their love for each other.

Setting

New York: the garment district, Greenwich Village, Union Square, Soho, Chinatown, Bryant Park, Upper West Side, Penn Station South, Long Island.
Plot

Roberta Riddle, an aging designer who is trying to make a comeback and one of Simona's difficult clients, has one week to get her act together before the New York ready-to-wear spring/summer fashion shows. Her new partner, Charlie, is giving her problems. Someone is playing nasty tricks on her. Then her muse and fit model, Phyllis, gets her head bludgeoned with Roberta's jade Buddha in the ladies room where Charlie left a bloody fingerprint. Stan Greenhouse is assigned the case. Roberta knows that Stan is also Simona's boyfriend. She offers Simona five thousand dollars to help clear Charlie.

Simona, whose own job is at risk, wants to keep a client happy even though Stan doesn't like it one bit. When someone starts chasing after Simona, she hires a bodyguard -- Dmitri K, a Stalin look-alike who drives a taxi, uses his cousin's pink Cadillac as an office, and sells hair on the side. They soon become sparring partners and fast friends. Careening from one side of Manhattan to another, they piece together the fragments of everyone's past which comes together just as Roberta's models sashay down the runway of the fashion tent in Bryant Park.

Recurring Characters

* Stan Greenhouse
* Raf Garcia, his partner
* Willy Greenhouse
* Gregory Price, Simona's good friend at work last seen in Small Raise

Reviews

A fast paced thriller...Ms. Crespi has an eye for fashion detail that gives the novel a cutting edge. -- The Sunday New York Times Book Review

This is a clever little novel with lots of insider bits about high fashion and snappy characters. -- Toronto Globe & Mail

Quick-moving prose, good garment-district atmosphere and a heady mixture of skeletons in the closet makes this a recommended title. -- Library Journal

Sprightly, sunny, and gossipy: a welcome return. -- Kirkus Reviews

The Beginning

"Garmentos stab you in the chest!" Phyllis announced.

Roberta Riddle ripped a muslin sleeve from the jacket Phyllis was modeling.

From the open workroom door, the tailor scowled. The sample maker nodded. The production manager jiggled his sneakered foot.

Roberta ripped out the other sleeve.

Recipe -- Schmatta* Pasta

Serves six

* 2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
* 8 tbsps olive oil
* 1 lb. white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
* 1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
* 1/2 lb. portobello mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
* salt and pepper to taste
* 2 slices bacon, diced
* 4 cloves garlic, peeled
* 1 (28 oz.) can peeled Italian tomatoes
* 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
* 1/2 cup flat-leafed parsley, chopped
* 1 lb fresh lasagne**
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Soak dried porcini mushrooms in 1 1/2 cups of warm water for 30 minutes. Remove the softened porcini from liquid and rinse under water. Chop. Drain mushroom liquid through a sieve lined with a paper towel and reserve.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Heat 2 tbsps. of olive oil in large skillet. Sauté fresh mushrooms in batches over high heat until water evaporates. With each batch, add oil as needed (reserving 2 tbsps). Season with salt and pepper.

In another skillet sauté bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and discard bacon grease. Heat the reserved 2 tbsps. of oil in the same skillet and cook garlic cloves until golden. Add tomatoes, mushroom liquid, bacon, and red pepper flakes. Cook over high heat for ten minutes. Remove garlic and season to taste. Add all the mushrooms and mix well. Cook for another five minutes to heat through. Add parsley.

Tear fresh lasagne into three-inch pieces to make schmatte. Drop lasagne pieces (rags) into the boiling water. Mix well to keep them form sticking to each other. Cook until al dente (three minutes) and drain.

Pour half the sauce and half the Parmesan in a large serving dish. Add schmatte and mix well. Pour rest of mushroom sauce and rest of Parmesan on top. Mix again and serve.

*Schmatta in Yiddish means rag. The clothing business was often referred to as the rag trade or the schmatta trade.

**Dried lasagne can also be used -- crack in half before boiling. Cook until al dente (approx. 10-12 minutes).

NOTE: Recipe can be prepared in advance and kept in refrigerator for two days or can be frozen. If not serving immediately, cook the pasta for only two minutes. Reheat pasta and sauce in 400-degree oven until piping hot (15 minutes approx.).