Women in Sunlight by Frances Mayes

By the bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun, and written with Frances Mayes’s trademark warmth, heart, and delicious descriptions of place, food, and friendship, Women in Sunlight is the story of four lives that change over the course of one exceptional year in Italy.

The new novel from the bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun tells the story of four American women who become unexpected friends when they move to a beautiful villa in Tuscany.

She watches from her terrazza as the three American women carry their luggage into the stone villa down the hill. Who are they, and what brings them to this Tuscan village so far from home?
Kit Raine, an American writer living in the small Italian town of San Rocco, is working on a biography of her close friend, the novelist Margaret Merrill.

But her work is waylaid by the arrival of three women - Julia, Camille and Susan - all of whom have recently formed a friendship that will uproot them completely and redirect their lives. For Susan, the most fearless of the three, has enticed them to subvert expectations of a staid retirement in the States by taking on the lease of a big, beautiful house in Tuscany . . .

Though novices in a foreign culture, their renewed sense of adventure imbues each of them with a bright sense of bravery, a spirited lust for life, and a fierce determination to thrive.

With Kit’s friendship and guidance, the three friends launch themselves into Italian life, pursuing passions long-forgotten – with drastic and unforeseeable results.

'As in Under the Tuscan Sun, Mayes's writing about Italy is the next best thing to a plane ticket' People

'Frances Mayes is back under the Tuscan sun, and the forecast for readers is bright ... [she] brings the magic of Tuscany to life once again in her new novel' USA Today

'The beloved Frances Mayes seems to own the Italian sun. Her first Italian-set novel is a lovely and intimate journey of friendship, loss, and hope set in the eternal beauty of Tuscan countryside' Adriana Trigiani

Frances Mayes

Reviews

“ The beloved Frances Mayes seems to own the Italian sun. Her first Italian-set novel is a lovely and intimate journey of friendship, loss, and hope set in the eternal beauty of Tuscan countryside. ”

Adriana Trigiani

“ As in Under the Tuscan Sun, Mayes's writing about Italy is the next best thing to a plane ticket. ”

People

“ Frances Mayes's novel about the feasts and friendships of four American women in the Tuscan countryside is a joy for the senses and an awakening for us all to the possibilities in our lives. Women in Sunlight is one of those novels you'll want to linger in, to leave open on your bedside table, to read each page again and again. ”

Nancy Thayer

“ Frances Mayes is back under the Tuscan sun, and the forecast for readers is bright ... [she] brings the magic of Tuscany to life once again in her new novel. ”

USA Today

Trade Paperback

9780143788539

April 2, 2018

Bantam Australia

448 pages

RRP $37.00
Online retailers
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Find your local bookstore at www.booksellers.co.nz/directory
EBook

9780143788546

April 2, 2018

RHA eBooks Adult

448 pages
Online retailers

Extract

Arrivals

By chance, I witnessed the arrival of the three American women. I’d been reading in my garden for a couple of hours, taking a few notes and making black dots in the margins, a way to locate interesting sentences later without defacing the book. Around four thirty on these early darkening days, some impulse toward dinner quickens, and I began to consider the veal chops in the fridge and to think of cutting a bunch of the chard still rampaging through the orto. Chard with raisins, garlic, and orange peel. Thyme and parsley for the tiny potatoes Colin dug at the end of summer. Since the nights were turning chilly, I put down my book, grabbed the wood-carrier from the house, and walked out to the shed to fetch olive tree prunings for the fireplace grill.