Four very different American women experience reinvention and
self-discovery when they settle in Tuscany and explore all that Italy has to
offer.
Frances
Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun, Under
Magnolia) returns to the sensuous glories of Italy in
her beautifully rendered and richly woven novel Women inSunlight.
Catherine "Kit" Raine is an American expat in
her late 30s. She has lived and worked as a successful writer and poet nestled
in the Tuscan hills of San Rocco for 12 years. Her current project is a
biography of fellow American Margaret Merrill--an older woman, good friend and
a writer whom Kit admired--who set down roots in Tuscany much earlier.
When Margaret died, she surprisingly bequeathed her estate to Kit. Their
friendship was at times rocky and difficult. However, Margaret's posthumous
generosity made a lasting impression on Kit. In trying to broaden the
readership of Margaret's work--and better understand her enigmatic friend--Kit
grapples with memories on the page that lead Kit to examine her own life and
future.
Kit's quest deepens when three American women--and their unruly dog--move into
the villa next door. The three women are new friends, all retired, who met at
an orientation for a 55-and-over retirement community near their homes in
Chapel Hill, N.C. The threesome are still vital and active enough to assert
their independence.
Mayes's writing glimmers with masterful sensory descriptions. Readers can
practically taste the white foam that tops cappuccinos, step into elongated
shadows cast by cypress trees and feel the echoing cold retained amid old stone
villas. Mayes delivers another intimate story, told in lively episodes, that
details how unexpected friendships can lead to reinvention and bright new
beginnings at any age.
Women in Sunlight: A Novel by Frances Mayes
Crown, $27.00 Hardcover, 9780451497666, 448 pages
Publication Date: April 3, 2018
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NOTE:
This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To
read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (April 24, 2018), link HERE
