Local Author

Denise DeSio fictionalizes her mother's story for the novel Rose's Will.

By Cait Brennan

Author Denise DeSio

Fact to Fiction

Author Denise DeSio gets creative with a story based on her mother

Authors from all walks of life have turned their personal histories into best-selling memoirs. But Valley author Denise DeSio takes it a step further in her new novel Rose's Will, an inventively crafted fictionalized memoir.

A story that is by turns harrowing, humorous and heartwarming, Rose's Will follows the life and death of a domineering family matriarch from three very different perspectives.

Rose's daughter, Glory, struggles to reconcile with her mother despite years of physical and emotional abuse and her mother's outright rejection of Glory's lesbianism. Glory's brother Ricky is Rose's exhausted, guilt-ridden caregiver. Eli is a 71-year-old Holocaust survivor who falls in love with Rose at their senior center. His unconditional love and compassion sparks an emotional journey that will change all their lives.

DeSio said she began work on Rose's Will more than a decade ago. "It started out as a memoir," DeSio said. "I started writing it after my mother died. Rose, in the book, is my mother. So it began as a memoir."

Writing it, and recalling years of abuse, proved difficult. "I thought it was going to be cathartic, but it was too painful," DeSio said.

The breakthrough came when DeSio decided to fictionalize the story, giving her the freedom to look at her journey in new ways.

Rose's Will "It really sparked my creativity," DeSio said of the decision. "I was really married to the truth in the beginning, and that left me limited. I found a way to fictionalize it without being untrue to the point. That's when I brought the craft to it. I stopped writing it as a memoir and took it seriously as a novel."

DeSio weaves a portrait of Rose by allowing Glory, Ricky and Eli to tell a piece of the tale in alternating chapters.

Each character, it seemed, knew a different Rose. "That's really the point of the book," DeSio said. "Who are we really? Are we who we think we are? Or are we all reflections of each other in such complex permutations that you really will never know? It's one reason I didn't give Rose a voice in the book. Who knows who the real her was, or any one of us?"

The character of Eli was loosely based on DeSio's mother's real-life beau. "Most people that have read the book love Eli," DeSio said. "It really was a case of unconditional love.

"Ricky and Glory, they're sort of two extremes. One is extremely dutiful yet resentful, and the other is ‘I want to love her but I hate her.' Eli is the voice of reason and brings everyone together," she said.

Eli's story is also compelling for its true-to-life tale of surviving the Holocaust. DeSio said she interviewed the real life "Eli" for his Holocaust story.

DeSio was initially reluctant to publish the novel, but was encouraged by friends and family to send it to publishers. The second publisher she contacted, 48fourteen, was interested.

Early reviews have been positive. "This is a well-told story and any of the three main characters could be its hero. That is a major accomplishment for a first-time novelist," author and Lambda Literary Award finalist J. E. Knowles wrote in a review.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, DeSio and her partner moved to Phoenix in 1993. They celebrate 23 years together in February.

DeSio said she is at work on her next book, which she began as part of National Novel Writing Month, in which writers create a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. "It was exhilarating," she said. "You get very creative when you only have 30 days."

DeSio also plans a humor book about investing in rental properties, with "horrendous true tales of dealing with crazy people," she said.

DeSio said that she hopes Rose's Will will spur readers to consider their own choices. "

"In the end, I really wanted to write this book so that people could look at themselves through my characters," DeSio said. "I wanted them to close the book and say ‘what would I have done? How much of my authenticity do I give up to try to get someone to love me?" -E

VITAL STATISTICS

Rose's Will
By Denise DeSio
(48fourteen.com, October 2011, $4.99 ebook)