Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Journey Into a Rose

Journey into a rose

The petals

have those

tender lips

curving, curling

a baby’s ear

begging, begging

come here, come here.

Look

Inside, the

layers of flower flesh

circle

around and around

deeper deeper

dizzying

to a point

that disappears.

The rose

is something

a book,

the petals

are

pages
that

draw

you

into

another

realm.

And then, an

added bonus,

there is that

heavenly smell

that defies

telling,

a living perfume.

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BRAND NEW: "Finding Filomena," my great great grandmother's star-crossed love story

For as long as I can remember, there was a dark secret in my father's family. But once my grandmother and all her sisters had passed, the secret was out: my great grandfather, Pasquale Orzo, was born out of wedlock in 1870 to Filomena Scrivano in the southern Italian province of Calabria. In English, the name Scrivano means "scribe," but in this novel I take on the job of scribe for my ancestor's love story: Filomena is a simple peasant girl with enormous potential who falls in love with a handsome young and wealthy aristocrat. It's a heartbreaking tale, one that Filomena “channels” through me during a visit I make to the tiny seaside town of Paola, where Pasquale was born. In the novel, I reveal the identity of the mysterious man who is responsible for producing the enormous Orzo clan – one which today numbers hundreds of descendants from Connecticut to California. Even though “Finding Filomena” is fiction, I intended the book to restore dignity to my ancestor’s reputation and to obliterate the shame that was handed down from Pasquale Orzo to my grandmother and her five sisters, as well as to their offspring. TO ACCESS THE NOVEL ON AMAZON, click on the cover!

Readers Rave About "Seeing Red"

July 7, 2011

“I finished Seeing Red!!! Great book!! You really have a gift for writing such compelling novels. I couldn't put it down. I loved the whole part in Spain. It made me want to move to another country. GREAT JOB!!!!!!!”

– P.M. Woods, author, Spinning Will

July 6, 2011

“I am having the best experience reading your book. I would love to see the book made into a movie. You are a genius, you have amazing talent…write more!” --Ruth Horowitz, Boca Raton, Florida

June 27, 2011

“I just finished Seeing Red this a.m.! The last 100 pages of that book fly! Your leading lady, with the help and encouragement of others, allows all her dreams to come true! I like this buoyed up narrative. Even when you discuss traumatic events, within a few pages, you’ve disentangled Ronda, so your reader knows that it’s her inner struggles that cause her the most angst. So in all, a *nourishing* read! I get the feeling this is somehow autobiographical, at least the son, Jack. And your descriptions are so VIVID. I could see everyone and everything. And as I mentioned the other day, your secondary characters are painted so strongly. They’re all wonderful, and I wish I knew them personally. What makes this book so interesting and worthwhile, is that it is all about reaching personal fulfillment and happiness (imagine fiction doing that)! Even in her darkest places, Ronda comes through for herself and others. You’ve given her (and us) a sense of possibility and resolution. Your work reminds us that, despite obstacles (some quite severe) happy, even celebratory, endings are indeed possible! This is perhaps the HAPPIEST novel I’ve ever read! It made me feel good, and as I said, nourished.”

--Nancy Dunlop, Ph.D., Delmar, New York

June 4, 2011

“I finished reading Seeing Red a few days ago. Thank you for a wonderful story! Ronda is a scrappy heroine with whom many of us can identify. She reinvents herself, with some uncertainty, but with determination, too. Her husband is such a jerk! The oily Enrique is thoroughly detestable, too. Leely and Freida are spirited, assertive ladies who refuse to fit a mold. I know I must now read Dreaming Maples. Keep writing Claudia!”

-- Christine McKnight, Schuylerville, N.Y.

June 1, 2011

“Well Claudia I just got done crying, at 12:30 a.m. after finishing Seeing Red. I stayed up late four nights in a row reading Ronda's journey, and out of all it, it was Jack that got me sobbing. I enjoyed Ronda's journey through Spain, the process of her learning to dance, her friends in Spain, the trip in the caves! I love her driver! I love her figuring out (through Leely) that men have dictated so much of what she thinks about herself. I like that she had a lot of doubts, I never trust characters who have a few paragraphs of doubt and then move on, charging ahead. Most of us revisit our doubts a lot. It's part of the process and you conveyed that well. And I really like that her journey had so many detours. It wasn't just “go to Spain, take on a few hurdles, and voila, the results are in.” It was a lot of detours and I like that. I love the part about the shawl and her dancing, so powerful!!! You really conveyed that transition and the power of the shawl very well. (And I believe a light, flowered shawl is symbolic of being wrapped in love.) Also, I love the party! Wow, what a book!!!”

-- Liza Frenette, Albany, N.Y.

My Story Lives

Tuesday, January 16, 2018