Always Reading: Virtual Book Tour & Interview: The Measure of Life by Judith Works

Monday, June 2, 2025

Virtual Book Tour & Interview: The Measure of Life by Judith Works

THE MEASURE OF LIFE

Judith Works

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GENRE: Women's Fiction

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BLURB:

A story of love and loss, lies and truth, begins in Rome when Nicole shares a cappuccino and cornetto with her Italian tutor. The meeting sets off a chain of events that upends the course of her life. While Rome also brings deep friendships and immersion into a sumptuous food scene there is no escape from acknowledging the consequences of her actions. In search of forgiveness and healing, she moves to an island near her childhood home in Seattle only to find the way to reunite the remnants of her family and discover her true path is to return to Rome and face the past.

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EXCERPT:

I read about a new concept called blogging. Intrigued, I studied the process to launch my own blog. After a lot of false starts, I managed to post about the day I bought bread in the bakery Maggie recommended and ended up meeting the old man. I titled it FIAT PANIS (Let There be Bread):

Once upon a time I met an old man out of a fairy tale. He was tiny and perched in a gigantic carved chair where he presided over a treasure trove of books and antiques. And it was the same day I first savored the goodness of real Roman bread. The kind of bread that’s crispy brown on the outside and chewy inside. The kind baked in a wood-fired oven wafting a mouth-watering aroma out the door to compel you to follow the scent back to the bakery where fresh loaves await. I squeezed through the crowd toward the clerk to make my selection while imagining ancient Romans clustered at the baker’s stall—the baker pulling the rounds of whole wheat spiced with poppy and fennel seeds from the hot oven while his wife handed them to house slaves who gossiped about their owners, and matrons who gossiped about the neighbors as they handed over a few coins.

I included colorful photos of the bakery and a loaf of fresh bread on my kitchen table along with frescoes of loaves from the ruins of Pompeii.

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Author Interview:

Tell me about yourself. Where are you from?

Judith: I’m originally from the Pacific Northwest but have lived in Washington DC and Rome, Italy. Right now, I’m looking at Puget Sound with blue water and sky with spring rain clouds hovering nearby. A container ship is coming into Seattle from China and the ferries are going back and forth.

What genre do you read? Who's an author you read? Name your top 5 authors.

Judith: I read widely, especially historical fiction, memoir, mystery, history and just about anything else that captures my attention at the library or bookstore. I would say my top five authors are Donna Leon who writes the Inspector Brunetti Series set in Venice; Jacqueline Winspear who wrote the Maise Dobbs series; and also Robert Harris, Tana French, Chris Bohjalian and dozens more.

What book are you reading right now, and what do you like about it?

Judith: I nearing the end of Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow. It’s a legal thriller. I like his writing and I enjoy reading about the back and forth of criminal trials.

How long have you been writing?

Judith: I’ve been writing all my working life but began to write creatively a few years ago when I decided to write a memoir about living in Italy because my husband and I had so many adventures both good and not so good. It’s titled Coins in the Fountain.

What is your writing process like? Are you more of a plotter or a pantser?

Judith: For The Measure of Life I had a basic plot in my mind and on notes but then I the characters themselves began to fill out the details of the plot naturally as they interacted with each other.

How do you name your characters?

Judith: Giving characters names is tricky because they must be realistic to the era, the location, and the culture, religion, and the purpose of the character in the story. The greatest of all writers when it comes to names was Charles Dickens, but those names really don’t fit modern times as they would divert from the story unless of course you are writing about Victorian England.

For the “bad guy” in The Measure of Life, set between 1994 to 2014, I needed a harsh sounding name, thus Karl Trench. My protagonist has a name that is a hint of sophistication, Nicole. And for her Italian lover in the doomed affair, is Alessandro. It’s a name that rolls lovingly off the tongue. The daughter named Sophie meaning wisdom is most definitely not wise and Nicole wonders why the name doesn’t match the personality, until later events come about.

One way to find names is to look at movie credits and take the first name from one person and last name from another always making sure they fit the story. Another method is to use a search engine for the most popular names of a certain period or place, or even the meaning of names. Character names are important but it’s an aspect of writing that can be fun to research.

AUTHOR Bio:

After I earned a law degree in midlife, I had the chance to leave the Forest Service in Oregon and run away to the Circus (Maximus). In reality my husband and I moved to Rome where I worked for the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization for four years as a legal advisor to the director of human resources. I could see the Circus that had hosted chariot races during the Roman Empire from my office window.

My husband and I reluctantly returned to the US after four years. But we pined for the land of pasta, vino, art, and sunny piazzas. Then the gods smiled and offered a chance to return to Rome with the UN World Food Program. Six more years or food and frolic in the Eternal City passed much too quickly. The indelible experiences living in Italy and working for the UN were the genesis of my memoir Coins in the Fountain.

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Where to purchase The Measure of Life:
Amazon