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TABOO: If you meet anyone in town with a name similar to characters in Adriana Trigiani’s Big Stone Gap books, DON’T assume it’s really them in the book. “Adri,” as she’s affectionately known here, borrowed parts of some real names, but maintains all her characters and their shenanigans are fictitious. Local landscaper Jack McClanahan was astonished when he read the book and found his nickname – Jack Mac – was the same as the main character’s love interest. The similarity ends there. McClanahan says he’s 17 years older than Trigiani, and vaguely remembers her as a kid who watched him perform in the outdoor drama Trail of the Lonesome Pine.

Q&A with Author Adriana Trigiani

How to write a book about your hometown

(and still be welcome back)

Trigiani’s main character, Ave Maria, is a 30-something life-long resident of Big Stone Gap. While Adriana moved away after college to write for television in New York City, her books are the imagined life she might have lived had she stayed there. Her parents still live in Big Stone Gap and, when she returns for book signings, she’s embraced by the community.

Q: How did you write a book about a town where you ­haven’t lived in nearly 20 years, from a New York City apartment?

A: That’s the best way. I deliberately didn’t go and spend long stretches there; I wanted to have the feelings I had back then. Art helped me – I had a giant painting of a house in a clearing in the Blue Ridge Mountains and I would stare at it. It looks a lot like the cover of the first book.

Q: Did you think about what it might mean for this little town to have a novel set there?

A: I didn’t think about that at all. I thought it was like naming it “Philadelphia.” When I went home I realized how important it was to them. If it helps them, that’s great.

Q: There are some names in the book similar to real people’s; are they based on the characters of those people?

A: No, they’re all fictitious characters, though I did steal some nicknames and parts of real names. Iva Lou is the name of a friend, but she’s so far from that character. I used surnames that were authentic to the area. I saved a lot of obituaries.

Q: Are you Ave Maria?

A: No, but the first book catches the sense of living in a place and time that, while it’s enchanted, you’re dreaming of what’s to be. She’s not me, but she became a real person to me and really dictated how things would go and took over the twists and turns of the plot. I did get books from the Wise County Bookmobile, like she did, about three a week.

Q: Would you ever consider moving back to your hometown?

A: I think it’s just the most beautiful place; I think it’s America. But when I’ve had the experience of something, I don’t have to repeat it.

Trigiani’s first book in the trilogy, Big Stone Gap (Random House, 2000), is set to become a movie and will be filmed in town. The second, Big Cherry Holler, was published in 2001, and the third, Milk Glass Moon, in 2002.

Central Virginia

Central Virginia is the land of farms and wineries, railroad towns and historic plantation homes. Its now tranquil landscape witnessed both the opening and closing salvos of the Civil War. Throughout the Piedmont, as the region is often called, undulating roads roll away to the horizon, connecting once busy, dusty depots built originally to handle the great harvest of the land. Today their commerce is the visitor in search of a quiet weekend getaway or a historical pilgrimage to Civil War sites made reverent in the American experience.

Getting Here

The East Coast’s main north/south thoroughfare, I-95, runs through Central Virginia, with I-64 running across it. Additionally, US 360 and US 460 both cross the length of the southern Piedmont.

Central Virginia is serviced by Richmond International Airport, tel. 804-226-3000, www.flyrichmond.com.

Regional Information

Virginia Tourism Corporation has Virginia Highway Welcome Centers on I-85 and I-95 at the Virginia/North Carolina state line, and at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square in Richmond.