Frances Mayes had a surprise hit with her 1995 memoir about renovating a dilapidated villa in Tuscany. "Under the Tuscan Sun" sold millions of copies and eventually was adapted into a movie. Before she published that book the author had been a relatively obscure poet.
The first time she appeared on the program it was in 1996 near the end of the publicity tour for that blockbuster book's paperback release-she was exhausted but clearly quite delighted about the success of that initial memoir. She was still doubting the book could keep selling like that, though.
When she came back a few years later to discuss her followup memoir she was still feeling good about the previous book, it remained a best-seller, and it was in development for a film project. In this Book Nook flashback you'll hear the author reflect upon how that one book really changed her life and what she had been doing during the few years after that.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public.
