A Golden Web by: Barbara Quick (Tour Stop) (Interview)

 HI everyone today I am interviewing Alessandra from A Golden Web by: Barbara Quick!

A little set-up here… To answer these questions, Alessandra Giliani would have to be answering them from that unknowable place (another dimension?)—where the past still exists. Perhaps that’s the place I stumbled into when Alessandra presented herself to me as the subject for a novel.

So, from that mysterious place, here I am, doing my best to answer your questions, Erika, in the voice—and from the heart—of Alessandra Giliani, nineteen-year-old girl of the 14^th century.

What was the worst part of being disguised as a man?

I had to disguise everything about myself—my intelligence, my hunger for knowledge. My urge to make the world right again, after the death of my mother.

The truth is that I liked almost everything about being disguised as a man! I had freedom I never would have had otherwise. I was sometimes frightened and sometimes doubted myself. But the freedom was mostly, simply, exhilarating!

Without doubt, the worst part of being disguised as a man was seeing what men usually hide from us—seeing the worst of them! Because I loved my brother and my father—and Otto, too—so ardently, I thought of all men being as good and noble as they are. It was sometimes a shock to me, seeing the unvarnished truth of those parts of men that are more like animals than angels.

What is your favorite surgical tool?

Oh, my knife! You must know that already. My brother gave me the knife itself as well as the skills to use it. It was my skill with a knife that determined my destiny.

Were you scared to pursue your dream of becoming an anatomist?

Who isn’t frightened, finally setting out on a path one has spent years dreaming of, planning for? I was terrified that I would not be equal to the task of amassing all the knowledge I would need. And I was frightened—rightfully, as it turned out—that someone would unmask me. I knew the penalty, if I was exposed, could be death. I feared death by burning. The thought of it haunted me—the thought of my flesh… but I can’t even speak of it. I was scared, as you say. But not too scared to persist in fulfilling my dream. I’m glad now that I found the courage, even though I paid so dearly for it.

Did you ever think you could fall in love?

I never did, until I realized I had fallen in love with Otto—and even then I fought against it! It was so inconvenient falling in love with a fellow student while I myself was disguised as a man. It was my undoing, really. But I would not trade the love that Otto and I shared, not for anything—not even for a much longer life.

It was a relief to me, I suppose, to realize that I was capable of falling in love, like a “normal” woman. My sister Pierina was fond of telling me that I was unnatural in my focus on learning—that there was something gravely wrong with me. But I loved my Otto just as much as any woman ever loved a man.

What advice do you give to ladies in a male dominated world?

There is much advice I would give, from this place of great perspective! I would say, first of all, that girls need to treasure that nugget of truth deep inside them—the part that is the true spirit of who they are. The world will try to talk you out of honoring that truth. You must (symbolically, perhaps) clothe it in the finest silks and nurture it like the most precious infant. If you can nurture who you truly are, you will not have to fear anyone’s dominance or anyone’s rules.

            The other important thing I would say—something I did not know in my own time—is to wash your hands with soap and hot water after touching anything contaminated, especially if one is using sharp tools. If I had only known—but, then, regrets are useless, aren’t they?

My hope is that girls today will take hope and courage from my story. From what I can see, being alive—in your time as much as in my time—requires courage every single day.

May you make all your dreams come true, Erika!