03405cam a2200409 4500 2552147796 TxAuBib 20250907120000.0 ||||||s2025||||||||||||||||||||||||und|u 9780802165381 0802165389 B0DHV4Y4WV Amazon 51014ec3-a82f-4db1-b67a-e499a28fc8b6 OverDrive (Reserve ID) 11197628 OverDrive (Product ID) TxAuBib Leon, Donna. Backstage [Libby eBook] : Stories of a Writing Life. Grove Atlantic, 2025. Format: OverDrive OverDrive Read. Format: OverDrive Kindle Book. Commissario Guido Brunetti. Sir Walter Scott. Literary Memoir. crime novelist. ross macdonald. ruth rendell. dickens. venice. handel. opera. HTML:<p><b>A memorable collection of stories and essays on writing, reading, teaching, and Venice by the celebrated author of the bestselling Guido Brunetti series</b></p> <p>Donna Leon's memoir, <i>Wandering through Life</i>, gave her legions of fans a colorful tour through her life, from childhood in New Jersey to adventures in China and Iran, to her love of Venice and opera. Nowhere, however, did she discuss her writing life.</p> <p>In <i>Backstage</i>, Donna reveals her admiration for, and inspiration from, the great crime novelists Ruth Rendell and Ross Macdonald, examining their approach to storytelling as she dissects her favorite books of theirs. She expresses her love for Charles Dickens's <i>Great Expectations</i> and her appreciation for Sir Walter Scott's generosity of spirit. And she chronicles the amount of research she undertakes to be able to present authentically, through Guido Brunetti and his colleagues, places and characters far from her own experience—from interviewing a diamond dealer in Venice to open up the world of blood diamonds, to meeting, through back channels, a courageous sex worker and women's rights activist to depict accurately the trafficking of women in Italy. By contrast, the idea and opening scene of one of her novels came to her as she was walking through Venice.</p> <p>Venice is central in her memory, whether recounting the semi-comic irritation of a noisy elderly neighbor or the origins of the city's Carnevale. Her teaching career yields memorable tales: helping a young Black boy in a Newark, New Jersey, elementary school; instructing young Iranian pilots in English just before the 1979 Iranian Revolution; and taking her students at a Swiss private high school to the famous Frank Zappa concert in Montreux interrupted by fire.</p> <p>Throughout, she is as good a storyteller about herself as she is a chronicler of Guido Brunetti's crime adventures. Readers will be as caught up in her world as she is in his.</p>. Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. Media Type: eBook. Importer Version: 2014-01-08.01 Import Date: 2025-09-06 20:00:03. https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=51014ec3-a82f-4db1-b67a-e499a28fc8b6&.epub-sample.overdrive.com Excerpt (Kindle Book) https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=51014ec3-a82f-4db1-b67a-e499a28fc8b6&.epub-sample.overdrive.com Excerpt (OverDrive Read)