Alumna Francesca Giacco ’16 Sells Novel 'Six Days in Rome' to Grand Central Publishing

Alumna Francesca Giacco ’16 recently sold her debut novel, Six Days in Rome, to Karen Kosztolnyik at Grand Central Publishing at auction. The novel is scheduled for publication in summer 2022. 

Six Days in Rome, which follows a "young artist wrestling with heartbreak and a complicated past," leads the reader through the streets of the Eternal City, "where ruins, piazzas, and packed trattorias...set the scene for a personal reawakening, creative inspiration, and the possibility of new love." 

In a comment on the news Giacco said, "In writing the novel, I wanted to explore what the experience of traveling alone can reveal, especially in such an evocative place. Not only what my main character sees and notices as she discovers Rome, but what the city's art, music, history, food, wine, and atmosphere elicit about her sense of self. It's always fascinated me: how invasive memory can be, all of our lives living within us at the same time. The novel has found such a great home with Karen Kosztolnyik at Grand Central. I'm thrilled she believes so fully in the story and the writing—and that she loves Rome as much as I do!"

Francesca Giacco's work has appeared in Longreads, Guernica, BOMB, Off Assignment, and The New York Times, among other places. She lives in New York.