Today we’d like to introduce you to Leigh Esposito.
Hi Leigh, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My first love was the written word. As a child, we moved frequently. Friends and homes changed, but the characters in my stories were a reliable refuge. It was my dream to contribute to the storytelling tradition that meant so much to me and become a novelist in my own right. The problem is I didn’t believe I could do it. I knew I had a gift for writing, but I did not think it extended to writing a long-format book.
I also didn’t think it was a viable career, though that worried me less in my high school and college years. Like many dreamers, I had long felt untethered to practical realities like money. Then, after graduating with an English degree from the University of Pennsylvania, I was contemplating my next move when 9/11 hit. In the ensuing days, I abruptly decided to become a lawyer. It was a choice that made my Italian immigrant family happy. I felt I was being responsible.
Instead, I was taking a detour into a career that would never feel right to me. Not that I regret it. It was the path I had to take because it was the path I took–and here I am. In June 2020, during the dog days of Covid, I sat down and began writing a novel I’d had in the back of my mind for a while. As a Sicilian American woman, it had never seemed right to me that images of Sicilian American power were almost exclusively male.
I had an idea for a novel called The Godmother: the story of a powerful Sicilian American woman who used her strength to shield and uplift women. From that premise was born a phantasmagoria of Sicilian vistas and ancient legends, female friendships and Mafia shadows, bloodline witches, and telenovela actresses. I had found a repository for all the eclectic knowledge I had amassed. I had become a novelist.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It was the opposite of a smooth road. While in high school I was known as a writer and found success in entering contests and publishing in literary journals, in college I largely abandoned my creative writing. After college, I derailed myself further by becoming a lawyer. While this isn’t true for all lawyers, for me law was antithetical to creativity. I felt stifled; I did not fit in. Whereas writing was natural and organic, the law was a role.
Eventually, I exited stage left as a stay-at-home mom, and I felt truly actualized and alive for the first time in my life. I was meant to be a mother. But I was also meant to be a writer, and in June 2020 I became just that. The process of writing the book wasn’t hard. It flowed. I felt like I was channeling something.
The hardest parts were finding an agent, preparing for submissions, and releasing my book to the wolves of the publishing industry. I have never been told “no” so many times in my life. But it made me stronger. I am grateful for each rejection. The sweetness of publication would not be the same if it had been easy.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a novelist. My debut novel, The Godmother, will be released May 16, 2023, and is available for preorder now through Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and coming soon to local booksellers. The novel is best classified as Upmarket Women’s Fiction, though men have surprised me by loving it too. In my mind, the novel is incredibly eclectic. And it’s perfect for book clubs!
More than half of the novel takes place in Sicily, where the titular character, the Godmother–Raffi Truvarizzi–confronts the roots of her power in her ancestral homeland. But the novel goes beyond the normal Italian American story. Beyond the Mafia lore and Sicilian legends, you’ll find ancient history, Sicilian cuisine, jazz, tarot, witchcraft, and telenovelas. The novel also has a strong dose of humor–or at least I like to think so.
What sets me apart from others is that my novel offers an image of a formidable, sophisticated, elegant Italian American woman who exerts power outside the domestic sphere–and uses this power to help other women.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I sang in a college a cappella group. My most “famous” solo (on campus) was “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” by Ella Fitzgerald. Now that college is over, I’m always up for a spontaneous night of karaoke, though I know exactly which song I’m going to sing–and I’ve been practicing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leighesposito.com
- Instagram: @msleighesposito
- Other: www.selvaticabooks.com
Image Credits
Tami Jill Photography
