Grace Mattioli

The theme of music is in my two previous novels and will be a major theme in my forthcoming novel. In Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees, Silvia listens to music while she paints. Music inspires her:  “The music seemed to go right

Silvia’s car breaks down, forcing the traveling siblings to find an auto body shop. Luckily, this happens as they are near the city of Bakersfield, a freeway-filled place with no shortage of automobile services. About a hundred miles north

After their visit to the Grand Canyon, Silvia and Cosmo head down to Flagstaff. Established in 1882 as a railroad stop, today this lovely little city has a population of just over 67,000 and is home to Northern Arizona University, Lowell

There aren’t many places in the world as sacred as the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. Situated in the Northeastern part of the state and completely surrounded by a much larger Navajo reservation, Hopi was settled in circa 1100 making it the

Cosmo and Silvia stop in a town just west of Albuquerque which is modeled after Tucamcari, New Mexico. Named after the mountain that is situated near this small city, it has a charm of its own with a number of vintage styled hotels and

Cosmo and Silvia make it to the western most edge of Oklahoma and stay in a motel near Texola, Oklahoma for the third night of their journey. This nearly abandoned ghost town sits on the Oklahoma-Texas border.  This town dates back to the

On the second night of their journey, Silvia and Cosmo make it to Memphis, Tennessee, where Silvia has a friend, Clay, who is Blues musician. When he tells Cosmo that he moved there to study the Blues, Cosmo assumes that he is attending a school

I’m honored to say that Olive Branches Don’t Grow On Trees is on Suspense Magazine’s prestigious Best of 2012 List!

Drawing on her own background, Grace Mattioli has created a warring but loveable Italian-American family, who just can’t seem to get along. While they all have their individual problems, youngest daughter, Silvia Greco, hopes that she can bring

Silvia moves through the world like a Peanut’s character dancing.  Frank moves from one side of the kitchen to the other like he is keeping beat to a Polka song.  Cosmo moves with a bounce in his step, his head bopping back and forth like a