Jessica Maffetore
Author Interview - Jessica Maffetore
Author of Eleanora in Pieces
It's been two years since her 4-year-old son... her baby... her Owen... disappeared from his bed in the middle of the night.
Every day Eleanora waits for news that he's been found. And every day she lives with the nightmare of knowing that she failed to protect her son.
Intuition tells her that Owen is alive, and Eleanora shuts out everyone who doesn't believe. But she fails to see that her single-minded hope has come at the expense of everything else she used to care about. With her career ruined, her marriage disintegrating, and her family coping with the loss in ways she can't understand, Eleanora is left trying to claw her way out of the black hole her world has become.
When an unexpected surprise suddenly offers Eleanora a second chance at happiness, she is shocked to feel...nothing.
Doubting her own worth, questioning her right to find peace, and still praying for her son's return, Eleanora struggles to see that life, ugly and painful as it can be, might still be worth living.
Author Interview - Jessica Maffetore
Author I draw inspiration from:
Maya Angelou has been my biggest writing inspiration since I first read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings when I was a teenager. I had to get my hands on everything she wrote after that, and thought both she and her writing were absolutely enthralling. I love both her autobiographical work and her poetry and have always been so moved by the pictures she is able to paint with words, the honesty in her writing, and her unashamed emotion. Her poem “Still I Rise” is probably my favorite piece of writing in existence.
Author Interview - Jessica Maffetore | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
Reading a book at the beach is one of my favorite things to do in the world. There’s not much else that can top that level of relaxation, when you have nothing to do, nowhere else to go, the ocean in front of you and a really great book to get lost in.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
I have to go with Mary Poppins. While I had a mild panic attack she would be busy either figuring out how to get us out of there or convincing me to see the positive spin on the situation. Plus, she would absolutely have snacks, books, and a pack of cards in her carpet bag.
Author Interview - Jessica Maffetore | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I remember being in elementary school and having some kind of creative writing assignment where we had a prompt and were supposed to write a one-page story. Everyone started writing, but my story didn’t fit on one page. I think by the end of class I had ended up writing four or five pages, and even then I didn’t want to stop. The rest of the kids were happy to finish their stories quickly and move on to something else, but all I wanted to do was keep writing. I think I’ve had it in my head ever since that writing was something I was meant to do.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I was a die-hard physical book fan–both paperback and hardcover–for a very long time. I felt like other formats really couldn’t match the experience of picking up a real book, flipping the pages, knowing exactly how far you were into the story, and seeing the words for yourself. But over the past few years, as life has become even busier, I’ve really made a huge transition over to audiobooks and now do most of my reading that way, otherwise I wouldn’t have time to get to the majority of books I want to read. With audiobooks I can multi-task and listen while I’m driving, or out on a run, or walking the dogs, or doing dishes, or any of the thousand other things I need to get done in a day. I find that I really enjoy hearing the portrayal of different characters through the narrators’ voices, and I’ve even come around a bit on ebooks, which I really resisted, not wanting any more excuses to stare at a screen. But, again, it does give me the opportunity to read a book when I have a few minutes while waiting in line somewhere, or in moments when I would otherwise be wasting time.
The last book I read:
I just finished Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea. It’s the fictionalized retelling of his mother’s experience as a Red Cross volunteer during WWII. She was stationed in Europe and worked in military buses called Clubmobiles which serving coffee and donuts to the troops on the frontlines. The book not only tells the fascinating perspective of these women, whose stories have gone largely untold in the history of the war, but was truly gut-wrenching in how it detailed the most wretched, raw, horrible things war does to everyone involved. It was a captivating and emotional read.
Author Interview - Jessica Maffetore | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I do all of my writing on a computer. I am a pretty slow writer, changing a lot of little things as I go, leaving blank spots for details that I have to research, writing a paragraph and then rewriting it the next day. Writing with paper and pen would be tough. I do tend to, for the most part, write stories in order from beginning to end without a lot of rearranging. I’ve tried outlining, I’ve tried pre-planning chapters, and I have never quite been able to write like that. I just start with an overall idea, or a character or a place and it goes from there. A lot of the time a story ends up in a totally different place than I thought it would.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I would like to be friends with Offred from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. She’s so solid in her determination to maintain a piece of herself, even while the world is insisting that she conform, be quiet, and submit. She has every reason to give up, but she doesn’t. That’s the kind of person I want to hang around with.
Author Interview - Jessica Maffetore | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
In my day job, I work full time doing marketing for a cybersecurity company. Believe it or not, there is a lot of overlap with being an author. A lot of marketing has to do with understanding people, using the right language and having good writing skills in order to tell a great, compelling story. Being an author is absolutely my dream career, so I’m very grateful that I get to do that, but if I wasn’t writing, I would love to be an artist or any kind of role where I get to create something. I love to make things and am always trying out different kinds of art projects.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
I am really drawn to the ideas of 1920’s fashion where women were really stepping out of traditional restraints, bobbing their hair, wearing shorter hemlines, looser fit dresses, and drop waists. It’s such an interesting mix of romantic and more “boyish” looks, where women were taking more control of what they wore, choosing to get rid of the most impractical clothes like long skirts and corsets that they couldn’t move in. And I really love the art deco inspiration from that time – not just fashion, but architecture, jewelry, art, all of it!
Place I’d most like to travel:
There are still a lot of places on my bucket list that I would love to go to, but I’d probably put Italy at the top. It might be a little cliche but between the history, the food, the language, and the scenery–all of it sounds amazing.
My signature drink:
I have a serious obsession with Starbucks. I have a different Starbucks order for every mood. There are multiple locations perilously close to my house that make it way too convenient. If I’m in the mood for something stronger, I never turn down a gin and tonic.
Favorite artist:
Brandi Carlile has been one of my favorite musicians for a long time. I’ve been lucky enough to see her in concert a few times. She has such a soulful voice, writes beautiful lyrics, and makes music that’s not quite like anyone else’s.
Number one on my bucket list:
I would love to run the Boston Marathon. My husband and I got the crazy idea to celebrate our first anniversary by running a marathon and the New York City Marathon happened to fall on that date. We applied to join a charity team and ran to raise money for Boston Children’s Hospital. Since then, we have run the rest of the World Major Marathons–Chicago, London, Berlin and Tokyo. We just saved Boston–our hometown–for last. We’re hoping to join another charity team in 2025 and run to raise money for a great cause.
Anything else you'd like to add:
Thank you!
Find more from the author:
https://www.instagram.com/jessicamaffetoreauthor/
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https://x.com/JessicaMWrites
About Jessica Maffetore:
Author Interview - Jessica Maffetore
Jessica Maffetore is the author of Eleanora in Pieces, a women’s fiction novel from Black Rose Writing. Jessica is a New England based author who lives north of Boston with her husband and three children. When she is not writing, Jessica is training to run marathons with her husband, going for walks with her rescue dogs, being tolerated by her teenage kids, and growing vegetables in her garden. She can be reached via her website, jessicamaffetore.com
