The Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato [104]
Once the book was finished I had lots of help from some fantastic people: thanks to my brilliant agent Teresa Chris for her constant faith in me, and to Simon Petherick, Tamsin Griffiths and the team at Beautiful Books for getting behind the novel in such a big way. Thanks to friend and writer Helene Wiggin for her encouragement and advice, and to Nigel Bliss for going to the right wedding! Thanks also to my Dad Adelin Fiorato for knowing his way round Dante, and to my Mum Barbara Fiorato for correcting my French.
If this book has a message I guess it is that family are everything. So thank you to Conrad and Ruby for letting mummy write, and for teaching me that when you have a child it's like letting your heart walk around outside of your body.
Last but not least, thank you to the Glassblowers of Murano, who work miracles every day.
THE GLASSBLOWER
OF MURANO
by Marina Fiorato
About the Author
• A Conversation with Marina Fiorato
Behind the Novel
• "The History of Murano" An Original Essay by the Author
Keep on Reading
• Recommended Reading
• Reading Group Questions
For more reading group suggestions visit wwwreadinggroupgold.com.
A Conversation with Marina Fiorato
"My old interests had found me with a vengeance-it was like being tapped on the shoulder by my past."
Could you tell us a little bit about your personal and professional background, and when it was you decided to lead a literary life?
I was born and educated in the north of England and at university I studied history. I then rebelled against my parents' academic background by going to art school and entering the film and music business! I began by generating onscreen graphics and I was lucky enough to work on films like Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie and Proof of Life with Russell Crowe. I shifted into rock music and worked with U2 and the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith, but when I became pregnant with my first child I took maternity leave. It was then that my old life found me again, and it was after I had my son that I had the idea for the story for Glassblower. I wrote the book while I was on leave and never returned to my job. I think I had been trying to be something I was not, and then, when I had a child of my own, ideas of heritage and my Venetian origins became enormously important. My old interests had found me with a vengeance-it was like being tapped on the shoulder by my past.
Is there a book or author that inspired you to become a writer?
I grew up reading Pamela Kaufman's books about Alix of Wanthwaite and her wonderful earthy writing and sense of period really inspired me-she invokes the sounds, sights, and even smells of the past so well! In more recent writing I love the prose of Thomas Harris. In the Florentine section of Hannibal I think he really manages to evoke the beauty but also the brutality of Italy at the same time. It's a modern tale but so Renaissance in spirit.
You studied history at Oxford University and the University of Venice, where you specialized in the study of Shakespeare's plays as an historical source. How has your education influenced your writing?
I studied a lot of Shakespeare in school and was inspired by both the language and the sheer drama of his storytelling. I'm like a magpie when I write; I steal shiny bits of the work of my betters and weave them into my own prose! There is so much Shakespeare in The Glassblower of Murano, from pieces of plot to direct quotes. I was particularly inspired in this case by The Merchant of Venice, which is one of the plays I studied in detail for my master's degree, but I also lifted a plotline from Romeo and Juliet. There's even a quote from The Tempest in there somewhere. At least I steal from the best!
Do you scrupulously adhere to historical facts in your novels, or do you take liberties if the story can benefit from the change?
I do try, as far as possible, to be reasonably accurateI think because of my training in historical research that any blatant inaccuracies would really jar. If push came