Denise Tolan’s work has appeared in The Penn Review, Atlas and Alice, Hobart, Lunch Ticket, and The Best Small Fictions, among others. Denise was a finalist for Best of the Net 2022 and the 2019 and 2018 International Literary Awards’ Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award. Her memoir is Italian Blood.
“I’ve heard that some volcanic eruptions are soft with oozing streams of lava dancing down the side of the volcano like a Las Vegas chorus line. My father’s eruptions were quick, like bricks being thrown through a window.”
Denise Tolan’s memoir-in-essay traces the legacy of violence in an Italian American family, showing how abuse reverberates both in the body and mind of a family. The book’s first part, “Blood is Not Water,” lays out how the origins of violence can infect the roots of a family tree. The second part, “Good Blood Doesn’t Lie,” shows what grows from those roots. Italian Blood is a raw, heartbreaking series of essays where everything is connected through literal and metaphorical blood. These essays offer a connection to anyone who suffered childhood shame, violence, or fear and provide reassurance that they are not alone.
