Under Magnolia

A Southern Memoir

Nonfiction, Travel, United States, South, Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book Under Magnolia by Frances Mayes, Crown/Archetype
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Frances Mayes ISBN: 9780307885937
Publisher: Crown/Archetype Publication: April 1, 2014
Imprint: Broadway Books Language: English
Author: Frances Mayes
ISBN: 9780307885937
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Publication: April 1, 2014
Imprint: Broadway Books
Language: English

A lyrical and evocative memoir from Frances Mayes, the Bard of Tuscany, about coming of age in the Deep South and the region’s powerful influence on her life.

The author of three beloved books about her life in Italy, including Under the Tuscan Sun and Every Day in Tuscany, Frances Mayes revisits the turning points that defined her early years in Fitzgerald, Georgia. With her signature style and grace, Mayes explores the power of landscape, the idea of home, and the lasting force of a chaotic and loving family.

From her years as a spirited, secretive child, through her university studies—a period of exquisite freedom that imbued her with a profound appreciation of friendship and a love of travel—to her escape to a new life in California, Mayes exuberantly recreates the intense relationships of her past, recounting the bitter and sweet stories of her complicated family: her beautiful yet fragile mother, Frankye; her unpredictable father, Garbert; Daddy Jack, whose life Garbert saved; grandmother Mother Mayes; and the family maid, Frances’s confidant Willie Bell.

Under Magnolia is a searingly honest, humorous, and moving ode to family and place, and a thoughtful meditation on the ways they define us, or cause us to define ourselves. With acute sensory language, Mayes relishes the sweetness of the South, the smells and tastes at her family table, the fragrance of her hometown trees, and writes an unforgettable story of a girl whose perspicacity and dawning self-knowledge lead her out of the South and into the rest of the world, and then to a profound return home.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A lyrical and evocative memoir from Frances Mayes, the Bard of Tuscany, about coming of age in the Deep South and the region’s powerful influence on her life.

The author of three beloved books about her life in Italy, including Under the Tuscan Sun and Every Day in Tuscany, Frances Mayes revisits the turning points that defined her early years in Fitzgerald, Georgia. With her signature style and grace, Mayes explores the power of landscape, the idea of home, and the lasting force of a chaotic and loving family.

From her years as a spirited, secretive child, through her university studies—a period of exquisite freedom that imbued her with a profound appreciation of friendship and a love of travel—to her escape to a new life in California, Mayes exuberantly recreates the intense relationships of her past, recounting the bitter and sweet stories of her complicated family: her beautiful yet fragile mother, Frankye; her unpredictable father, Garbert; Daddy Jack, whose life Garbert saved; grandmother Mother Mayes; and the family maid, Frances’s confidant Willie Bell.

Under Magnolia is a searingly honest, humorous, and moving ode to family and place, and a thoughtful meditation on the ways they define us, or cause us to define ourselves. With acute sensory language, Mayes relishes the sweetness of the South, the smells and tastes at her family table, the fragrance of her hometown trees, and writes an unforgettable story of a girl whose perspicacity and dawning self-knowledge lead her out of the South and into the rest of the world, and then to a profound return home.

More books from Literary

Cover of the book The Liberated Bride by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Sleepless Nights and Kisses for Breakfast by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Nuove solitudini by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Per una notte d'amore by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book The Corpse Exhibition by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Ta façon d'être au monde by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Iberian Cities by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Flora Finching: the Only Free Woman in 'Little Dorrit' by Charles Dickens by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Christopher Marlowe: Four Plays by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Cahiers numéro 24 by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Empire and Pilgrimage in Conrad and Joyce by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book The Love of Monsieur by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book The House of Moses All-Stars by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book Onder professoren by Frances Mayes
Cover of the book The Desert and the Sown by Frances Mayes
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy