gracie ledbetter , her editor at rockcastle books , had been so swept away by the story , that when she called violet to make an offer on the book , she had admitted that if she did n't know better , she would have thought violet actually was a call girl , and that her novel-and that was how gracie had said it , as if she were italicizing it-was actually a novelization-again with the italics-of her real life experiences .