Introduction

“Cross How Stella Got Her Groove Back with Under the Tuscan Sun, and you've got Gaining Visibility, a novel that is at times beautiful, at times heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting.” –Wendy Webb

Julia Berkwith’s daughter has moved to Alaska, her beloved mother-in-law is in a nursing home, and her ex-husband is in Hawaii—with a younger woman. In her late forties, Julia is now used to being invisible. But even if she has to do it alone, she’s determined to celebrate her victory over breast cancer by hiking Italy’s Cinque Terre. And while she’s there, she can scout out treasures for her interior design business back in Kentucky.
 
Invigorated by the beauty of the Italian countryside, Julia seems unstoppable, until she’s injured by a rock—one that happens to belong to thirty-something stone mason Vitale DeLuca. Reluctantly, Julia accepts Vitale’s insistent offer of lodging while she recovers. But in his home, amid his exquisite sculptures, Julia sees beyond his charm and looks to something special: a talent she must bring to the world’s attention. And once she does, she plans to step aside to leave him in the spotlight. But Vitale has seen something in Julia too, something she is no longer able to recognize in herself. And he is determined to find a way to show it to her.
 
Poignant and uplifting, Gaining Visibility is an exhilarating story of one woman’s realization that even the deepest scars have a beauty of their own—and that it’s time to take her place in the sun once more.

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Excerpt

GAINING VISIBILITY Excerpt
By Pamela Hearon
During the three-hour drive from Paducah to the airport in St. Louis, Julia sang loudly with each song that came on the radio—no need of her playlist to make her happy this day. And later, tethered to the airplane by a seat belt, she still felt like a kite set free, literally soaring above the earth, on her way to a new place, ready for a new experience. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. The word visibility has two different meanings. It can refer to how well something can be seen (Her book’s visibility at the front of the book store thrilled the author’s family.), or it can refer to the range of view from the perspective of the viewer (The pilot’s visibility increased by twenty miles when he dropped below the clouds.). In what ways does the author focus on each of these definitions during the course of the story?

2. The main theme of a book can be thought of as the most important life lesson learned by the main character over the course of the story. What do you consider to be the main theme of Gaining Visibility? What other themes presented themselves to you as you read?

3. Julia and Vitale both deal with issues of “invisibility.” In what ways are their issues similar? In what ways are they different?

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