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Overview
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A lyrical and evocative collection of personal stories from the author of Under the Tuscan Sun, in which the queen of wanderlust reflects on the comforts of home. "Personal, warm, and lovely . . . a charming read. The book feels like a warm conversation with your most thoughtful, curious friend."--Garden & GunLONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD - VERANDA BOOK CLUB PICK "Where you are is who you are." 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. From her travels across Italy to the American South, France, and Mexico, Mayes examines the connective tissue among them through the homes she's inhabited. A Place in the World explores Mayes's passion for and obsession with houses and the objects that inhabit them--books, rich food, gardens, beloved friends, and transportive art. The indelible marks that each refuge has left on her and how each home influenced the next serve as the foundations of the book's chapters. Written in Mayes's signature intimate style, A Place in the World captures the adventure of moving on while seeking comfort in the cornerstone closest to all of us--home.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9780593443330
- ISBN-10: 0593443330
- Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
- Publish Date: August 2022
- Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.93 pounds
- Page Count: 304
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In Frances Mayes' sparkling new collection of essays, she ponders the meaning of home. It's a subject about which she knows plenty, having made so many homes over her lifetime. In A Place in the World, Mayes' fans can revisit some familiar places, such as Bramasole, the villa in the Tuscan countryside that she famously renovated in Under the Tuscan Sun, and the humid and fragrant Fitzgerald, Mayes' Georgia hometown and the subject of her memoir Under Magnolia. Readers will also visit some new locales, namely Chatwood, the North Carolina farmhouse where she and her husband, Ed, live when they're not in Italy. Chatwood spoke to Mayes much like Bramasole did: It was instant love. "When the agent turned in at the lane leading to an upright farmhouse with book-end chimneys, a porch along the front, magnolia trees, and a meadow along a river, I was ready to sign the dotted line before I opened the car door," she writes. "Ed agreed, this was Eden. Inside the house smelled like closed-up chapels I've come across in the Italian countryside. The kitchen fireplace had a swinging arm for hanging a pot over the coals. Copper sinks, bookcases everywhere, staircases that twist, many-paned windows splashed with green views—we are home. That fast." There are many such lovely descriptions of Mayes' houses in A Place in the World, but this is not a book about buildings. It's about the concept of home, that intangible thing to which countless magazines and blogs are dedicated. Mayes examines home from many angles. She devotes gorgeous chapters to the Chatwood garden, filled with tea-scented camellias, jasmine, honeysuckle and magnolia, not to mention an enormous veggie garden she put in at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also writes mouthwateringly about cucina povera, or the poor kitchen—the simple rustic Italian fare eaten during times of war—and how skills such as foraging, using every ounce of the pig and eating seasonally are learned at home. She even recalls temporary homes, rentals in Mexico and Capri that nourished her creativity. My favorite essay might be "Home Thoughts: A Litany." Here, in almost stream-of-consciousness prose, Mayes recalls the homes of her dear friends. "What an intimate act, to invite someone into your home," she writes. And it's true! She remembers in striking detail the sculptures, books, kitchens and fireplaces of her friends' homes around the world. It's a whirlwind home tour and homage to friendship in 10 pages. Tempered by a dash of wistful examination as Mayes enters her 80s, A Place in the World is a beautiful, thought-provoking read.
In Frances Mayes' sparkling new collection of essays, she ponders the meaning of home. It's a subject about which she knows plenty, having made so many homes over her lifetime. In A Place in the World, Mayes' fans can revisit some familiar places, such as Bramasole, the villa in the Tuscan countryside that she famously renovated in Under the Tuscan Sun, and the humid and fragrant Fitzgerald, Mayes' Georgia hometown and the subject of her memoir Under Magnolia. Readers will also visit some new locales, namely Chatwood, the North Carolina farmhouse where she and her husband, Ed, live when they're not in Italy. Chatwood spoke to Mayes much like Bramasole did: It was instant love. "When the agent turned in at the lane leading to an upright farmhouse with book-end chimneys, a porch along the front, magnolia trees, and a meadow along a river, I was ready to sign the dotted line before I opened the car door," she writes. "Ed agreed, this was Eden. Inside the house smelled like closed-up chapels I've come across in the Italian countryside. The kitchen fireplace had a swinging arm for hanging a pot over the coals. Copper sinks, bookcases everywhere, staircases that twist, many-paned windows splashed with green views—we are home. That fast." There are many such lovely descriptions of Mayes' houses in A Place in the World, but this is not a book about buildings. It's about the concept of home, that intangible thing to which countless magazines and blogs are dedicated. Mayes examines home from many angles. She devotes gorgeous chapters to the Chatwood garden, filled with tea-scented camellias, jasmine, honeysuckle and magnolia, not to mention an enormous veggie garden she put in at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also writes mouthwateringly about cucina povera, or the poor kitchen—the simple rustic Italian fare eaten during times of war—and how skills such as foraging, using every ounce of the pig and eating seasonally are learned at home. She even recalls temporary homes, rentals in Mexico and Capri that nourished her creativity. My favorite essay might be "Home Thoughts: A Litany." Here, in almost stream-of-consciousness prose, Mayes recalls the homes of her dear friends. "What an intimate act, to invite someone into your home," she writes. And it's true! She remembers in striking detail the sculptures, books, kitchens and fireplaces of her friends' homes around the world. It's a whirlwind home tour and homage to friendship in 10 pages. Tempered by a dash of wistful examination as Mayes enters her 80s, A Place in the World is a beautiful, thought-provoking read.