I’ve been that woman, and so I really thought that that was a great inspiration. She has a reason, and it’s very important to her personal life. I walk into town every morning for coffee and often in the piazza I see a woman writing in her notebook or sketching, and I know why she’s there.

On the inspiration behind “Women in Sunlight”: And after two weeks in the place I knew that I really wanted to have that as part of my life. I rented a farmhouse in Tuscany – just kinda put my finger down on the map and said: This is a good location. She will also be at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville on Monday, April 9 the Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough on Wednesday, April 11 and The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines on Thursday, April 12. Mayes will be hosting readings, signings and Q&A sessions throughout North Carolina including at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh tonight at 7 p.m. Mayes joins host Frank Stasio to talk about second chances, life after “Under The Tuscan Sun,” and two of her favorite places: Italy and North Carolina. In her new book “ Women In Sunlight” (Crown/2018), she tells the story of three North Carolina women who consider downsizing and settling into a retirement community, but instead wind up in Italy. Mayes was well into her 50s at the time, and still lit with her own personal fire and passion, she has continued to send her characters on a journey to find the success that eluded them in their youth. She was a professor and little-known poet until the release of “ Under the Tuscan Sun” (Broadway Books/1997) which catapulted her career. But that is not the case for the protagonists in Frances Mayes’ novels, or Mayes herself. Women of a certain age are frequently treated like the best moments of their lives are over.

Under the tuscan sun book