Frances Mayes has 8 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 10 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 13 ratings. The most-rated is Under the Tuscan Sun.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Summary
“This beautifully written memoir about taking chances, living in Italy, loving a house and, always, the pleasures of food, would make a perfect gift for a loved one. But it’s so delicious, read it first yourself.” (USA Today) The 20th anniversary edition of the classic, updated with a new afterword. Don’t miss Frances Mayes in PBS’s Dream of Italy: Tuscan Sun Special! Twenty years ago, Frances Mayes - widely published poet, gourmet cook, and travel writer - introduced listeners to a wondrous new world when she bought and restored an abandoned villa called Bramasole in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. Under the Tuscan Sun inspired generations to embark on their own journeys - whether that be flying to a foreign country in search of themselves, savoring one of the book's dozens of delicious seasonal recipes, or simply being transported by Mayes's signature evocative, sensory language. Now, with a new afterword from the Bard of Tuscany herself, the 20th anniversary edition of Under the Tuscan Sun brings us up-to-date with the book's most beloved characters.
©1998 Frances Mayes (P)1998 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell, A Division of Random House Inc.
Women in Sunlight
Summary
The story of four American strangers who bond in Italy and change their lives over the course of an exceptional year, from the best-selling author of Under the Tuscan Sun. Don’t miss Frances Mayes in PBS’s Dream of Italy: Tuscan Sun Special! She watches from her terrazza as the three American women carry their luggage into the stone villa down the hill. Who are they, and what brings them to this Tuscan village so far from home? An expat herself and with her own unfinished story, she can’t help but question: will they find what they came for? Kit Raine, an American writer living in Tuscany, is working on a biography of her close friend, a complex woman who continues to cast a shadow on Kit’s own life. Her work is waylaid by the arrival of three women - Julia, Camille, and Susan - all of whom have launched a recent and spontaneous friendship that will uproot them completely and redirect their lives. Susan, the most adventurous of the three, has enticed them to subvert expectations of staid retirement by taking a lease on a big, beautiful house in Tuscany. Though novices in a foreign culture, their renewed sense of adventure imbues each of them with a bright sense of bravery, a gusto for life, and a fierce determination to thrive. But how? With Kit’s friendship and guidance, the three friends launch themselves into Italian life, pursuing passions long-forgotten - and with drastic and unforeseeable results.
©2018 Frances Mayes (P)2018 Random House Audio
Women in Sunlight
Summary
The story of four American strangers who bond in Italy and change their lives over the course of an exceptional year.
She watches from her terrazza as the three American women carry their luggage into the stone villa down the hill. Who are they, and what brings them to this Tuscan village so far from home? An expat herself, and with her own unfinished story, she can't help but question: will they find what they came for?
Kit Raine, an American writer living in the small Italian town of San Rocco, is working on a biography of her close friend, the novelist Margaret Merrill. But her work is waylaid by the arrival of three women - Julia, Camille and Susan - all of whom have recently formed a friendship that will uproot them completely and redirect their lives. For Susan, the most fearless of the three, has enticed them to subvert expectations of a staid retirement in the States by taking on the lease of a big, beautiful house in Tuscany....
Though novices in a foreign culture, their renewed sense of adventure imbues each of them with a bright sense of bravery, a spirited lust for life and a fierce determination to thrive. With Kit’s friendship and guidance, the three friends launch themselves into Italian life, pursuing passions long-forgotten - with drastic and unforeseeable results.
©2018 Frances Mayes (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Bringing Tuscany Home
Summary
When Frances Mayes fell in love with Tuscany and Bramasole, millions basked in the experience through her three best-selling memoirs. Now Frances and her husband, In Tuscany coauthor Edward, share the essence of Tuscan life as they have lived it, with specific ideas and inspiration for listeners stateside to bring the beauty and spirit of Tuscany into their own home decor, meals, gardens, entertaining and, most important, outlook on life. Enjoy the abundant flavors and easy simplicity of the Tuscan kitchen with details on everything from olive oil and vin santo to pici and gnocchi. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2004 Frances and Edward Mayes (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
Bella Tuscany
Summary
Frances Mayes, whose enchanting number one New York Times best seller Under the Tuscan Sun made the world fall in love with Tuscany, invites listeners back for a delightful new season of friendship, festivity, and food, there and throughout Italy. Having spent her summers in Tuscany for the past several years, Frances Mayes relished the opportunity to experience the pleasures of primavera, an Italian spring. A sabbatical from teaching in San Francisco allowed her to return to Cortona - and her beloved house, Bramasole - just as the first green appeared on the rocky hillsides. Bella Tuscany, a companion volume to Under the Tuscan Sun, is her passionate and lyrical account of her continuing love affair with Italy. Now truly at home there, Mayes writes of her deepening connection to the land, her flourishing friendships with local people, the joys of art, food, and wine, and the rewards and occasional heartbreaks of her villa's ongoing restoration. It is also a memoir of a season of change, and of renewed possibility. As spring becomes summer she revives Bramasole's lush gardens, meets the challenges of learning a new language, tours regions from Sicily to the Veneto, and faces transitions in her family life. Filled with recipes from her Tuscan kitchen and written in the sensuous and evocative prose that has become her hallmark, Bella Tuscany is a celebration of the sweet life in Italy.
©1999 Frances Mayes (P)1999 Random House, Inc., Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.
In Tuscany
Summary
From the best selling author whose memoirs Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany have captured the voluptuousness of Italian life in sensuous and evocative prose, comes a lavishly illustrated celebration of Tuscany's people, food, landscapes, and art, as well as the abundant pleasures of Italian life as it is lived at home, at festivals, feasts, restaurants, and markets, in the kitchen and on the piazza, and in the vineyards, fields, and olive groves. Combining all-new essays by Frances Mayes with contributions by her husband, poet Edward Mayes, In Tuscany is divided into four interrelated parts - La Piazza, La Festa, Il Campo, and La Bellezza - each highlighting a signature aspect of Tuscan life.
©2000 Frances Mayes (P)2000 Random House, Inc.
See You in the Piazza
Summary
Best-selling and beloved author Frances Mayes discovers the hidden pleasures of Italy in a sumptuous travel narrative that crisscrosses the country, with inventive new recipes celebrating Italian cuisine. The Roman Forum, the Leaning Tower, the Piazza San Marco: These are the sights synonymous with Italy. But such landmarks only scratch the surface of this magical country's offerings. In See You in the Piazza, Frances Mayes introduces us to the Italy only the locals know, as she and her husband, Ed, eat and drink their way through 13 regions - from Friuli to Sicily. Along the way, she seeks out the cultural and historic gems not found in traditional guidebooks. Frances conjures the enchantment of the backstreets, the hubbub of the markets, the dreamlike wonder of that space between lunch and dinner when a city cracks open to those who would wander or when a mind is drawn into the pages of a delicious book - and discloses to us the secrets that only someone who is on intimate terms with a place could find. Includes a bonus PDF of recipes. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Frances Mayes (P)2019 Random House Audio
Bella Tuscany
Summary
Frances Mayes, whose enchanting number one New York Times best seller Under the Tuscan Sun made the world fall in love with Tuscany, invites listeners back for a delightful new season of friendship, festivity, and food, there and throughout Italy. Having spent her summers in Tuscany for the past several years, Frances Mayes relished the opportunity to experience the pleasures of primavera, an Italian spring. A sabbatical from teaching in San Francisco allowed her to return to Cortona - and her beloved house, Bramasole - just as the first green appeared on the rocky hillsides. Bella Tuscany, a companion volume to Under the Tuscan Sun, is her passionate and lyrical account of her continuing love affair with Italy. Now truly at home there, Mayes writes of her deepening connection to the land, her flourishing friendships with local people, the joys of art, food, and wine, and the rewards and occasional heartbreaks of her villa's ongoing restoration. It is also a memoir of a season of change, and of renewed possibility. As spring becomes summer she revives Bramasole's lush gardens, meets the challenges of learning a new language, tours regions from Sicily to the Veneto, and faces transitions in her family life. Filled with recipes from her Tuscan kitchen and written in the sensuous and evocative prose that has become her hallmark, Bella Tuscany is a celebration of the sweet life in Italy.
©1999 Frances Mayes (P)1999 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.