Post-prison, Teresa Giudice has a best seller with 'Turning the Tables'

Life after prison is proving to be a good thing for Teresa Giudice, as Martha Stewart would say (and she would know).

The star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey has a hit with her new memoir Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again (Gallery). Published on Feb. 9, the book lands at No. 15 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list this week. (The full list will publish on Thursday.)

Giudice, 43, who was released from Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut on Dec. 23 after serving nearly a year for tax fraud, has been making the media rounds to promote her book, including a spread in People magazine.

“There is no privacy. The drama in there is crazy,” she told People of the prison that inspired Orange Is the New Black. She kept a diary while incarcerated, and told the magazine: “Ultimately, I felt lucky. I was never handcuffed, and I wasn’t behind bars.”

Her TV appearances for Turning the Tables have included Good Morning America, Nightline and Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live. (Meanwhile, Giudice is back to filming episodes for Bravo’s Housewives, which returns for a new season later this year.)

The mother of four daughters has done several bookstore appearances in New Jersey that drew hundreds of fans, according to her publisher.

She has also written several cookbooks. Only one, Skinny Italian, made USA TODAY’s list, peaking at No. 145 in 2010.

Giudice and her husband, Joe, pleaded guilty in 2014 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud, after racking up $5 million in mortgages and construction loans.

Joe Giudice begins serving a 41-month sentence in March. (An Italian citizen, he also faces possible deportation to Italy.)