Women in Sunlight

Frances Mayes, bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun, brings exhilarating beauty and second chances to a magical year in Italy. From her peaceful Tuscan hillside, writer Kit Raine witnesses the chaotic arrival of three American women with their mountain of luggage and a god. She's intrigued. They're not just on vacation, she surmises. Benvenute, Kit thinks, welcome. She experiences a strange jolt that as a writer she recognizes: inspiration. The women - Julia, Camille, and Susan - have launched a spontanous friendship back in North Carolina. Susan, the most audacious of the three, has enticed them to subvert expectations of staid retirement by leasing the beautiful, abandoned Villa Assunta. The three women are funny and profound, questing and domestic. Though novices in a foreign culture, a new sense of adventure imbues each of them with a bright sense of bravery, a gusto for life, and a fierce determination to thrive. Kit is with them all the way, discovering her own life can still surprise. Women in Sunlight, written with Frances Mayes's trademark warmth, heart, and delicious descriptions of place, food, and friendship, is the story of four American strangers who change their lives over the course of an exceptional Italian year, and beyond. --