We chat to author Daniel Speck about his debut novel, Anywhere But Home, which crosses continents, cultures, and generations to tell a sweeping story of self-discovery, finding your own place in a new world, and the revelatory mysteries of being a family.
In this interview, Daniel chats about his new novel, where his love of writing came from, his publishing journey, and more!
Hi, Daniel! Tell us a bit about yourself!
I consider myself as a writer who disappears behind his characters. Writing, for me, is listening to people’s stories and transforming them into a story. Giving them a voice. Maybe that kind of approach is a result of my training and work as a screenwriter for TV and film. “Anywhere But Home” is my debut novel.
With the current state of the world, what are you doing to cope with the changes we’ve had to make with our day-to-day?
We writers are used to working alone, so social distancing is easier for us than for extroverts or people who work in an exposed environment. The greatest challenge is staying focused and not getting distracted by the news. I miss book presentations, though. I was supposed to put my Italian classic car (the one from the book cover) in a container, ship it to the US and do a book presentation tour. Would have been great fun. Instead, I’m sitting at home, writing.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
For me, writing and travelling were always intertwined. Wherever I travelled as a teenager, I kept a diary. At a certain point, I discovered that it was more interesting to write down the stories other people told me, rather than just my own toughts and feelings. I had wanted to become a journalist first, but I loved movies and I loved storytelling, so I became a screenwriter.
Your novel, Anywhere But Home, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
A woman discovers her unknown family. Ooops, that’s six words. I could omit “unknown”, but that’s the whole point of the story: Julia, a young fashion designer, meets a stranger who says he’s her grandfather. He tells her his story, which sets her on a journey to Italy, in search for her father whom she’d never known. Her mother had told her he’s dead, but in fact, he isn’t. And there’s a whole secret story behind it.
Now tell us a little more! What can readers expect?
The saga of a family, torn apart by migration and dark secrets, reunited only in the third generation. An epic journey from Munich to Milan, Naples and Sicily. It’s ironic that “Anywhere But Home” is published in the summer of 2020, when so many people had to cancel their holidays to Italy. I hope it’ll give readers the opportunity to travel in their minds.
What inspired you to write this novel?
Probably many of the classic Italian movies I watched when I was studying film history in Rome. You know, neo-realism and beyond, Bicycle Thieves, Rocco and his brothers, La Notte, La Dolce Vita. Italy in the 50ies and 60ies, what they call “the Golden years” today. It’s never gotten better.
Did you face any difficulties while writing, such as writing a scene or conducting research?
Writing a novel is a marathon. There are tedious moments and ecstatic moments, that’s just part of the work. Research is the most fun part, because my research consists of travelling and talking to people I like. Their stories will melt into my characters’ stories.
Without spoiling too much, is there a favourite moment that you absolutely loved writing?
I loved describing the lush Mediterranean beauty on the island of Salina, while actually sitting there on a terrace, surrounded by intoxicating perfumes, the open sky and the vast ocean. What really helped me was the generous Sicilian hospitality. I’ve become friends with Clara Rametta and Michele Caruso, the owners of a hotel on the island, Hotel Signum. They shared their childhood stories with me, while their daughter Martina, the restaurant’s chef, made me experience the seven wonders of Sicilian cuisine. There’s a big wedding scene which takes place on the island in 1968, and the wedding menu was composed by Sergio, an employee of the restaurant whose parents actually got married that year. He looked up the old family pictures and wrote the menu. Then, they made me try every single dish. Couldn’t get any better than that.
What do you hope readers will take away from your novel?
The realization that there are hidden messages passed on from grand-parents to parents, from parents to children. It’s something we can’t escape, like a whisper between generations. Carl Gustav Jung said: “Nothing has a stronger influence (…) on their children than the unlived life of the parent.”
Can you tell us about your publishing journey for Anywhere But Home?
It’s my first novel, so everybody told me how hard it is to find a publisher. But when my agent sent out the manuscript, seven German publishers responded positively, so I was lucky to be able to choose the best, S.Fischer. I knew it was a strong story, but I had no idea that it would become a best-seller. I was just happy to being able to write the story like I wanted, free from the constraints of screenwriting. When it was published in Italy, too, I did a book tour in the ’69 Iso Rivolta GT which is on the book’s cover. In family novels, there’s usually a house in the center of the plot. But my characters are a migrant family living anywhere but home, so there’s no house, but a beautiful Italian car being passed being passed from one generation to another.
Lastly, are you currently reading anything and do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
One my favorite writers, Hanif Kureishi, wrote an autobiographical book which inspired me. Its title is “My Ear At My Father’s Heart”. It’s the complex, yet astounding story of his father, a Pakistani immigrant in London. I came upon one sentence which really struck me, because it incorporates the essence of “Anywhere But Home”: “It cannot be surprising that questions about immigration and the immigrant inevitably end up as questions not only about who we are, but who we want to be – the deepest things.”
I loved Anywhere but Home.
I would love to read Jaffa Road. Do you know if and when it will be translated into English?