To: Passionate
From: Literary Muse
Date: New Release
Subject: Vivid Pleasures

Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life. In this sequel to her New York Times bestsellers Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, Frances Mayes lyrically chronicles her continuing, two decades-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle.

Mayes offers her readers a deeply personal memoir of her present-day life in Tuscany, encompassing both the changes she has experienced since Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany appeared, and sensuous, evocative reflections on the timeless beauty and vivid pleasures of Italian life. Among the themes Mayes explores are how her experience of Tuscany dramatically expanded when she renovated and became a part-time resident of a 13th century house with a stone roof in the mountains above Cortona, how life in the mountains introduced her to a "wilder" side of Tuscany—and with it a lively engagement with Tuscany's mountain people. Throughout, she reveals the concrete joys of life in her adopted hill town, with particular attention to life in the piazza, the art of Luca Signorelli (Renaissance painter from Cortona), and the pastoral pleasures of feasting from her garden. Moving always toward a deeper engagement, Mayes writes of Tuscan icons that have become for her storehouses of memory, of crucible moments from which bigger ideas emerged, and of the writing life she has enjoyed in the room where Under the Tuscan Sun began.

With more on the pleasures of life at Bramasole, the delights and challenges of living in Italy day-to-day and favorite recipes, Every Day in Tuscany is a passionate and inviting account of the richness and complexity of Italian life.

Biography
In addition to her Tuscany memoirs, Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, Frances Mayes is the author of the travel memoir A Year in the World; the illustrated books In Tuscany and Bringing Tuscany Home; Swan, a novel; The Discovery of Poetry, a text for readers; and five books of poetry. She divides her time between homes in Italy and North Carolina.

Special Recipe Excerpt from Everyday In Tuscany:

Plum Tart

A dessert guaranteed to provoke extravagant praise, such as “This is the best tart I’ve
ever tasted.” This was inspired by a recipe in Rogers Gray Italian Country Cook Book: The River Café by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray.

Makes 1 tart

Pastry
1⁄2 pound very cold butter, cut into pieces
2 1⁄2 cups sifted flour
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
1 1⁄4 cups powdered sugar
3 large yolks, beaten

Filling
3⁄4 pound butter
1 1⁄2 cups fine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups almonds, pulverized to fine powder in food processor
3 whole eggs
7 ripe but firm plums, pitted and halved

First prepare the pastry: By hand or in a food processor, mix the butter, flour, and salt
until crumbly; then mix in the powdered sugar, then the yolks. When well combined and
adhering together, roll it into a ball and chill thoroughly, about half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Slice it into
pieces and press it into a large glass pie plate or a 12- to 14-inch tart pan. Chill about 10
minutes, then prick the pastry dough all over and bake it in a hot oven until slightly
toasty, about 10 minutes. Lower the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the filling, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, add vanilla, mix with ground
almonds, then add eggs one at a time, beating well.
Arrange the plums over the baked pastry shell, pour the filling over them, and bake until
set, about 30 minutes.

Source Frances Mayes Books

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