It went to Number One on the New York Times Best Seller list and remained on the list for over two years. The book is a memoir of Mayes buying, renovating, and living in an abandoned villa in rural Cortona in Tuscany, a region of Italy. In 1996 she published the book Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy. Mayes has published several works of poetry: Climbing Aconcagua (1977), Sunday in Another Country (1977), After Such Pleasures (1979), The Arts of Fire (1982), Hours (1984), and Ex Voto (1995). In 1975 she earned her MA from San Francisco State University, where she eventually became Professor of Creative Writing, director of The Poetry Center, and chair tof the Department of Creative Writing. Born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, and raised in south central Georgia, Mayes attended Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and obtained her BA from the University of Florida.

Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages ( From the publisher.)įrances Mayes is an American university professor, poet, memoirist, essayist, and novelist. She is also the author of the novel, Swan, six books of poetry, The Discovery of Poetry, and her most recent, Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir (2014). It was followed by Bella Tuscany and two illustrated books, In Tuscany and Bringing Tuscany Home. The now-classic Under the Tuscan Sun–which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a Touchstone movie starring Diane Lane.

Currently-lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA, andįrances Mayes is the author of several books about Tuscany.

Education-B.A., University of Florida M.A., San Francisco.

In Under the Tuscan Sun, she brings the lyrical voice of a poet, the eye of a seasoned traveler, and the discerning palate of a cook and food writer to invite readers to explore the pleasures of Italian life and to feast at her table. There were unexpected treasures at every turn: faded frescos beneath the whitewash in her dining room, a vineyard under wildly overgrown brambles in the garden, and, in the nearby hill towns, vibrant markets and delightful people. Frances Mayes entered a wondrous new world when she began restoring an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside.

Frances mayes books in order