Lakeport >> Anna Fiorina Hess spent 50 years working as an X-ray technician. Then she retired, signed up for creative writing classes, and wrote a book. Hess, a Lake County resident, is the first to admit that the two have next to nothing in common.
“I’m a technologist by profession. It was completely opposite,” she said. “Here are these teachers trying to get my whole other side of my brain to work.”
Like anything else, becoming a skilled writer required persistence and practice, and Hess had plenty of both. One of the most important lessons she learned was how to write from the heart, how to tap into your well of creativity. Her very first professor taught her not to edit as she wrote, just to put words down on the page and save everything else for later.
That same instructor tasked students with a number of assignments which included writing about memories from their pasts and describing the contents of a drawer. These prompts lead Hess to write what she’d intended to be her first book — a volume called “The Ideal Cafe,” which regaled stories from Hess’s childhood.
The Ideal Cafe was her father’s business, a fish and chip shop in Scotland where Hess grew up. Her family lived in two rooms behind the establishment, and Hess spent much of her life stationed behind the shop’s front counter. When it came to penning a book, this upbringing left her with fodder to spare.
But as is the way of life, things didn’t go quite as expected. When Hess sent part of her manuscript to an editor, she was told that she was glossing over the most interesting part of the narrative.
In the Ideal Cafe, Hess had written six pages about her parents’ experiences as Italians interned in Scotland during World War II. “She said, ‘That’s your story, now you need to go and write your book,’” Hess recalled.
And write her book she did. Hess recently finished “Born In Internment,” a tale which follows four characters during wartime. It’s not strictly historical fiction, but it couldn’t be classified as non-fiction either, Hess said. Instead, Born in Internment is in its own little category. There’s a note at the start of the book that informs readers the story is inspired by real events. But some of those real events have been embellished for the sake of storytelling.
Even the characters are molded after real people and their experiences. The book switches between four perspectives, each in the voice of someone Hess personally knows: her father, her uncle Tommy, her aunt Bruna and Hess herself.
The most challenging aspect of writing Born In Internment was balancing these perspectives. At first she was even advised not to write in alternating points of view, but she chose not to listen. It did take a fair amount of fine tuning and editing to find what worked best. When she finished the first draft, the entire thing was written in present tense. An editor suggested she change it to past tense, and though Hess was unsure, she gave it a shot. Turns out, that switch was just what the book needed.
Hess felt a responsibility to get this story right, so in addition to talking with family who had directly experienced internment during World War II, she utilized library books and online resources. It took her seven years to write the story. In the end, the effort was well worth it.
Hess emphasized that while Born In Internment takes place during a devastating time in history, the ultimate tone of the book is one of optimism. “It’s a war story but it’s not a sad war story. It’s a love story and it’s about resilience,” she said. “That was my message in my book, that families, even during wartime, have a lot of resilience and what carries them through is their love for each other and their country.”
The book also contains some parallels to today’s political climate, particularly as it pertains to Syria. As World War II ended, the Germans retreated up the Italian Peninsula, forcing citizens from their homes and into the hills. A chapter in Born In Internment addresses this, touching on what it’s like to be a refugee during wartime.
“It’s kind of up to date with things going on here,” Hess pointed out.
Born in Internment is Hess’s first book, but if things go her way, it won’t be her last. She’s already written a mystery novel, which she’d like to edit and improve. She’s also not planning to let the stories in the Ideal Cafe go to waste.
As someone who has been happily married for 50 years, Hess would like to write a book on that topic as well. She and her husband have been together since the day Hess arrived in the United States — literally. They met at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City two hours after she landed in San Francisco. This was in 1962, and the couple was married in ‘64. They settled in Napa, and moved to Lake County in retirement.
On Saturday, Hess will be discussing her book and her family’s World War II experiences at the Lakeport branch of the Lake County Library. The program begins at 2 p.m. and admission is free. The Lakeport branch is located at 1425 N. High St.
Books will be for sale at the library on the day of the program. Born In Internment is also available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle. Visit www.annafiorinahess.net to purchase the book or contact Hess.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
