UNDER MAGNOLIA A Southern Memoir

Listeners will be as surprised by this memoir's content as by its narration. The author of UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN shares memories of her early life in the American South. Although she retains her Georgia accent, a professional narrator may have better portrayed Mayes's 1950s youth. Still, Mayes engages with stories of her challenging childhood, during which she witnesses the constant arguments of her alcoholic parents. Her life falls to pieces upon the early death of her father. Her wish to escape her troubled mother and small hometown are fulfilled during her college years. But after her Italian adventures and years in California, Mayes finds herself yearning for the land of magnolias and settles in the well-known North Carolina "writers' town" of Hillsborough. J.J.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2015]