Book goes into Brazil's past

HURON — The author of the new novel "Finding Cristina," Mila Kette, lives in Huron, but her book takes readers back to Rio de Janeiro in the 1920s. "I wanted to write something that had Rio de Janeiro as a backdrop and I like things related to the past," said Kette. The book debuted on April 30 on Amazon. It is listed on Amazon under Kette's pen name, Emilia Rosa. Kette lived in Brazil as a child and has fond memories of spending time at the beach there with her parents. "The places I incorporated were places I've experienced," she said. The same can't be said for the book's characters. "Cristina is completely different from anyone I know, even me," she said. "The only similarity is that I had dark hair when I was younger." For Kette, the characters were the first part of the novel to appear in her mind. "I had a small idea and the more I wrote, the more specific the characters became," she said. She wrote the chapters for the book out of order as they came to her. "Some scenes I knew and I just wrote," she said. "I was sitting and watching TV, not paying attention, and I turned to my husband and I said, 'I know the book ends.' I ran to get a pen and paper and I wrote it down." Once the book was finished, Kette's husband convinced her to self-publish it through Amazon. She describes the process as smooth and easy. "I was surprised when it was done," she said. "I was like wow, that's it?" She designed the book's cover herself using old photographs and postcards she's collected over the years. "I knew exactly what I wanted the cover to be," she said. Now that she's done the e-book and the paperback, she's considering doing an audiobook. "I'd love to hear it, but the person who narrates will have to know French, Italian, and Portuguese pronunciation to make sure they don't butcher the words," she said. Kette went to great pains to ensure that the details in "Finding Cristina" are historically accurate. "I got street guides from that era to make sure that the names of streets, which have changed slightly over the years, were accurate," she said. "One of the characters is a pilot, so I did research about slang that French and British pilots used during World War I," she said. Like the titular character in her novel, marriage brought changes to Kette's life. "I met my husband while I was living in Florida," she said, "but I love it here in Huron I just wish it was not so cold." When she's not writing, Kette enjoys walking her dogs near the Plum Brook Country Club and watching action movies at home. Her advice to anyone else who's thinking about starting a book is simple: write.