Love Letters

Meredith Goldstein sits down with Frances Mayes, author of “Under the Tuscan Sun,” in her latest podcast episode.


A photo of Cortona locals with Frances Mayes, in a weathered copy of “Under the Tuscan Sun.”

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On the second episode of this Love Letters podcast season, we met Kelly, who moved from Australia to Italy for a happier life.

She’s not the most famous person to do that, of course.

Really, that’s Frances Mayes. She’s the woman who famously moved to Tuscany after a divorce, bought a place, and wrote “Under the Tuscan Sun” about her experiences.

That book became a movie, which I still adore. It’s like a warm blanket.

The podcast guest in our new episode IS Frances Mayes. I wanted to talk to her because there’s so much conversation about geography in our stories this season.

Can moving change you? Or are you the same person in a different place?

Frances had a lot to say about that.

For the record, she is a delight. 

She also has a new book, “A Great Marriage,” a novel about love, secrets, and a cancelled wedding.

As you listen to the episode, consider this: The new Love Letters season is all about whether people can change. But sometimes PLACES can change because of people.

I went to Italy in October. During my trip, I traveled to Cortona, where Frances Mayes lives. Like many tourists, I drove to her property, Bramasole, and looked at the spot where people leave messages for her.

Me, under Bramasole, a day after mosquitoes bit my face off.
A spot by the house where people leave messages for the world – and Frances.

I also went to a local vineyard where a young man told me that because of Frances Mayes, Cortona is a destination. And now his family’s winery gets a lot of attention. 

He showed me a picture of his family at an event with Frances years ago. He had so much gratitude for how she changed his community. 

Frances’s love for Cortona changed the entire town – and its economy.

Of course, it also drove up local property values.

There are highs and lows with every kind of change, right?

But we get into that.

Enjoy Episode 4. Also enjoy the talkback of Episode 3.

The perfect speech

I’ve been asked to present a Literary Lights award to best-selling author Elin Hilderbrand in April. 

This is a big deal – an honor to present an honor.

I’ll admit that when I was younger, I spent some years thinking Elin Hilderbrand’s books weren’t for me. Why?

1) Internalized misogyny made me fear reading books with women in adirondacks chairs on the cover. 

2) In my 20s I believed I would never belong on Nantucket (Hilderbrand’s stories are often set there), and I thought the books would make me feel … poor.

3) When I was introduced to her books in the 2010s, I was more interested in vampires. Hilderbrand did not seem focused on vampires.

But then I hit a place in life where it all made sense. 

Now I love adirondack chairs. The people who sit in them are often real characters. 

I understand the beautifully intimate, empathetic, stifling, small-town, everyone-knows-each-other feelings that are part of Hilderbrand’s stories.

Liev Schreiber and Nicole Kidman in “The Perfect Couple.”

I can also embrace Nicole Kidman starring in “The Perfect Couple,” an adaptation of Hilderbrand’s book of the same name. (And it looks like we’ll get more Hilderbrand shows in the future, including this one with Jennifer Garner.)

I do wonder whether there are readers of her books in our community, and whether anyone wants to give me tips on the speech I’ll give during the ceremony. If you have something to share about how her books have improved your life, let me know.

Maybe I should learn the “Perfect Couple” dance and just do it on stage.

Some things to read
I was on Dan Savage’s podcast. We talked about a bunch of stuff, including unicorns. You can find a clip here. The whole episode is here.

This letter is from a single person who only likes her plants and books. She’s also someone with very fixed attitudes about dating and relationships. Can she find a partner without becoming more … open? How do you become open with the IDEA of being open?

Enjoy this deep dive (or/and a quick video) into the history of Boston Marriages. Boston Marriages happened everywhere, but we get to call them Boston Marriages. We in Boston get to claim beans, cream pies, and women in long-term relationships.
So long, Cortona

I’ll leave you with a pic of the best thing I ate in Frances’s Italian town, Cortona. Eggs and truffles. Still thinking about it.

— Meredith