About the Book
When a Hollywood producer comes to Oriana Fallaci at the end of her life to propose a movie, the story unfolds of her gutsy career rise as a journalist, her tragic love, and her greatest regret.
Oriana was born a rebel. She fought beside her father at age fourteen in Italy’s Resistance against the Nazis and overcame poverty, the lack of a university education, and relentless sexism in the newsroom. By 1973, when she moved to New York, Oriana Fallaci was hailed by Newsweek as the greatest interviewer of her day. She catapulted to fame for her bold and provocative interviews with Kissinger, Arafat, Meir, Robert Kennedy, Indira Gandhi, the Shah of Iran, and other world leaders—not to mention the most prominent celebrities and artists of her day.
That same year, she did what no journalist is supposed to do: she fell in love with one of her subjects, Alexander Panagoulis, the Greek poet and hero. She was 44, he was 34; they lived in different countries. It didn’t matter. Oriana had finally found what she longed for, a full life. But can a woman ever have it all, or does life always exact a price?
Oriana is the first biographical novel about the brilliant and fearless Italian journalist whom Christiane Amanpour has called her role model—and who holds a place alongside Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters as a master interviewer. It is the story of a trailblazer who broke through the glass ceiling of journalism, a woman who wasn’t afraid to speak truth to power and who revolutionized her field, all while struggling to carve out a space for love and family.
Praise for Oriana
I remember Oriana Fallaci vividly and was thrilled to read this novel about her work and her life, particularly her great romance in the early 70s with a man who was not afraid of her ability and ambition. Anastasia Rubis writes with a passion for her subject that matches Oriana’s own craving for a big full life and in turn does her and the era a great justice. In scene after breathtaking scene, we relive a time of great hope when getting at the truth was possible. A truly inspiring debut.
—Alice Elliott Dark, author of In the Gloaming and Fellowship Point
Brava! Oriana is a love story as bold, sophisticated, and beautiful as the remarkable woman herself. From a childhood under the Nazis to a journalist jetting around the world to pierce the veil of power, Oriana wins international renown but longs for enduring love. Readers will be swept into a life as extraordinary as it is heartbreaking. I wept at the end, and loved every minute of Anastasia Rubis’s stunning historical fiction debut.
—Laurie Lico Albanese, author of Hester and Stolen Beauty
About the Author
Anastasia Rubis has been published in the New York Times, Huffington Post, New York Observer, and literary journals. Her story “Blue Pools” was included in the anthology Oh, Baby published by Creative Nonfiction and edited by Lee Gutkind. Another story, “Girl Falling,” was named a Notable Essay in Best American Essays. She co-wrote and co-directed the short documentary Breakfast Lunch Dinner: The Greek Diner Story.
Anastasia earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Brown University and an M.A. from Montclair State University, where she was an adjunct professor of English. Early in her career, she was an advertising and public relations executive in Manhattan. She and her husband live in New Jersey, where they raised their daughter, and she spends summers in Greece, where her parents were born. Oriana is her debut novel.