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Frances Mayes

Biography

Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes is the author of the classic UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a movie starring Diane Lane. Her other international bestsellers include BELLA TUSCANY, EVERY DAY IN TUSCANY, A YEAR IN THE WORLD and three illustrated books: IN TUSCANY, BRINGING TUSCANY HOME and THE TUSCAN SUN COOKBOOK. Mayes is also the author of two novels, SWAN and WOMEN IN SUNLIGHT, six books of poetry, and THE DISCOVERY OF POETRY. Frances Mayes’ writing has been translated into more than 50 languages.

Frances Mayes

Books by Frances Mayes

by Frances Mayes - Memoir, Nonfiction

Though Frances Mayes is known for her travels, she has always sought a sense of home wherever she goes. In this poetic testament to the power of place in our lives, Mayes reflects on the idea of home, from the earliest imprint of four walls to the startling discoveries of feeling the strange ease of homes abroad, friends’ homes, and even momentary homes that spark desires for other lives. Her musings are all the more poignant after so many have spent their long pandemic months at home. From her travels across Italy --- Tuscany, of course, but also Venice and Capri --- to the American South, France and Mexico, Mayes examines the connective tissue among them through the homes she’s inhabited.

by Frances Mayes - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Kit Raine, an American writer living in Tuscany, is working on a biography of her close friend, a complex woman who continues to cast a shadow on Kit’s own life. Her work is waylaid by the arrival of three women --- Julia, Camille and Susan --- all of whom have launched a recent and spontaneous friendship that will uproot them completely and redirect their lives. Susan, the most adventurous of the three, has enticed them to subvert expectations of staid retirement by taking a lease on a big, beautiful house in Tuscany. With Kit’s friendship and guidance, the three friends launch themselves into Italian life, pursuing passions long-forgotten --- and with drastic and unforeseeable results.

by Frances Mayes - Memoir, Nonfiction

The author of three beloved books about her life in Italy, including UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN and EVERY DAY IN TUSCANY, Frances Mayes revisits the turning points that defined her early years in Fitzgerald, Georgia. She explores the power of landscape, the idea of home, and the lasting force of a chaotic and loving family.

by Frances Mayes - Essays, Nonfiction, Travel

A Year in the World is vintage Frances Mayes—a celebration of the allure of travel, of serendipitous pleasures found in unlikely places, of memory woven into the present, and of a joyous sense of quest. You’ll love going along for the ride as Mayes travels from her home base of Tuscany to Spain and Portugal, Frances, the British Isles, and the Mediterranean world of Turkey, Greece, the south of Italy, and North Africa. We hope this discussion guide will bring you further discoveries about A Year in the World and about yourself and your travels.