Bask in Frances Mayes’ ‘Women in Sunlight’
Frances Mayes is back under the Tuscan sun, and the forecast for readers is bright.
The author of the best-selling 1996 memoir Under the Tuscan Sun brings the magic of Tuscany to life once again in her new novel, intertwining the experiences of five American female expats into one story of loss, courage, healing and renewal.
Women in Sunlight (Crown, 448 pp., ★★★★) follows a trio of Southerners (ages 59, 64 and 69) from orientation at a retirement community to a leap-offaith escape to Italy through the eyes of their new neighbor, Kit Raines.
A poet and prose writer, Kit is challenging herself to write a novel memorializing her friend Margaret, a fellow expat and writer who has recently died.
The three women arrive across the road in San Rocco, a small village outside Florence, as Kit (who has lived there for 13 years) is in her garden, struggling to begin her book. She concludes that she’ll write about them all, her old friend and her three new ones, whom she hears about then meets in their small village where news travels fast.
Each visiting woman is moving on from personal tragedy — Camille Trowbridge, the oldest, from her husband’s unexpected death; Susan Ware, from her husband’s drawn-out demise; and Julia Hadley, the youngest, from a cheating husband and daughter lost to addiction. Together, they’ve rejected the notion of committing the next 30 years to the same daily routine with retirees, and they now have the opportunity to pursue their passions — gardening, art and cooking — in the perfect place.
Kit is processing her friend’s death and trying to make sense of Margaret’s life story while her own plays out at age 44. We learn that Margaret weathered secret storms of her own and that all five women’s experiences with motherhood have had an immeasurable influence on their lives.
As the newcomers learn Italian and discover untapped potential within themselves, Kit rediscovers the potential of friendship and family as she ushers the visitors into San Rocco’s tightknit multicultural community.
As with any Italian story, food and wine are integral. Relationships and dreams flourish over the course of four seasons as each heroine faces life’s inevitable seasons — love included.
I quickly became attached to Mayes’ characters and invested in how their lives played out. The neighborly way they help one another and collaborate on professional endeavors and social gatherings alike is endearing.
Despite life’s challenges, there’s a constant sense of revelry with meals, blind tastings among friends, fresh olive oil after a hands-on harvest and enthusiastic exploring on weekend trips that invites the reader to join the journey.
As each woman learns she’s not too old for new dreams, the only question left is whether a fantasy in a foreign country can last forever. Italy isn’t the only place where the sun shines, but here it illuminates what’s truly important for these appealing characters, as they “va & torna,” go and return.