Gracianna was my great-grandmother and when I was a child she used to talk a lot about being thankful. “Grateful?” Who talks to a four year old about that concept? Later in life I began linking shreds of stories I had been told with my own my beliefs. Suddenly, fifty years had gone by and it was time to tell the story about this strong Basque woman, my “Grandma Lasaga.” As a brand marketing executive that owns his own business I travel a lot. Last year I put in 250,000 miles worldwide. I live in Sonoma County, California but nearly all of my work is outside the US. I wrote Gracianna in over thirteen countries! Rather than list them, I thought I’d pull out some highlights to help you see some of my inspirations. Gracianna took eight months to write but nearly two years to edit.
I fly to Asia quite a lot…Cathay Pacific is a wonderful airline that flies the Southeast Asia routes including Karachi, Pakistan where I am writing this now. The airline’s logo has a “bird” in it that represents flight. It reminded me that Gracianna was on a flight in her life, and at various points had decisions to make about what direction she should go. That is why in the art direction of the chapter breaks from chapter to chapter I have the bird switching her flight directions, flying one way then the next. I imagine that when you read Gracianna you will understand the symbolism of the other two birds in the trees that she is flying between.
There is more symbolism in the trees of those chapter breaks as well, and if you look closely enough you will see that the German Luger that plays a central role in the story will appear to you. But if you find it don’t show anyone.
At one point my business took me to Warsaw, Poland. I was writing the book during this excursion as well. For some reason and it had not occurred to me to extend my research to Krakow and Auschwitz on that trip. But that ended when I was tackled by the Polish night as the bitter cold overwhelmed me when the door of the plane opened. I was traveling from South America and inconveniently left my winter coat in California. The burst of cold enveloped me. The thought of my grandmother’s sister (or anyone) withstanding that sort of cold in a concentration camp drew me to Auschwitz. I needed to see where she had been. I took hundreds of photos while I was there but have been unable to look at them since. Several of my Auschwitz photos were chosen by the producer of the Gracianna book video trailer accompanies this posting. Have a look. If you have any questions or want to know more inside stories about the book just contact me—I would love to hear from you. Trini.Amador3@gracianna.net
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