BookLife Talks with John Mincarelli

A sponsored Q&A with the author of 'One Thing of Value'

Mincarelli’s third book, One Thing of Value, found its inspiration in the Alexandre Bisson play Madame X, which tells the story of a lawyer defending a woman accused of murder who, unbeknownst to him, is his mother. We spoke with Mincarelli about how he tackled the classic work and how his characters are surprisingly prescient in today’s political climate.

What’s the story behind One Thing of Value—why and how did you write it?

Bisson’s story is a compelling and moving tale. It occurred to me that it could be an even more complex and intriguing drama if the genders of the lead characters were reversed. With that in mind, I undertook to reimagine the story with a focus on the perceptions of femininity and masculinity that have shaped our society and continue to inform our notions of what it means to be a man or a woman.

How is One Thing of Value different from your other novels?

First, this novel is unabashedly sentimental in its depiction of inspiring and heartbreaking human relationships. Keeping the various plotlines from becoming maudlin while maintaining a high level of emotional commitment was, for me, a tricky balancing act. Second, it spans 30 years and takes place in several countries. Representing those times and places without getting bogged down in too much detail took a bit more finesse than was required in my previous novels. I think I succeeded in evoking the locales through entertaining dialogue and observations rather than through drawn-out pedantic descriptions.

The book covers a number of historical and cultural points in history. To what extent did you draw from real life or your own life to convey these time periods?

I have traveled to all the places in the book, and every year I attend the Verdi festival in Parma, Italy, where some of the action in the book occurs. I’ve been studying Western culture both academically and empirically throughout my life, and the particulars of my studied observations enrich many passages in the book, often with humor. However, it is my love of history, especially the calamity of WWII, that aided me in the depiction of scenes from the war. As for my characters, some are drawn from people I have met during my travels who expressed the attitudes and opinions about men and women that were held at a given point in time. Of course, as in any novel, there is a great deal of invention, but all fabrications of plot or character in One Thing of Value are rooted in the truth as I know it from experience.

How do you imagine readers at this moment will connect to One Thing of Value?

When I started writing it a year and a half ago, I had no idea that the story of an ambitious woman running for Congress in New York in the 1950s and the effect it has on her husband would be so relevant. As we see that dynamic play out today with Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, it is fascinating to note the similarities and differences between my novel and real life. Also, the book depicts an illicit romantic relationship that many readers will be able to identify with on a personal and/or political level, especially as the right to love whom one chooses remains an issue. As simple as the novel may seem on its surface, the complexity of the characters and their motivations render this tale of a father’s love for his daughter a deep exploration of human connectedness that I believe will speak to many readers.

Are you working on a new book right now?

I am writing a comedic thriller called The Wrong Right Turn about a college professor who stumbles upon a murder in progress while on a summer drive to visit Edith Wharton’s home in Lennox, Mass. It’s an opportunity for me to play with genres of literature that I love, namely social criticism and pulp fiction. Decidedly an odd mix, the book is presenting me with countless problems, but I am having a great deal of fun trying to make it work.