First published 2014
Frances Mayes grew up in Fitzgerald, Georgia, surrounded by a chaotic and loving family that shaped her future as a writer. Her beautiful but fragile mother Frankye and unpredictable father Garbert created a household full of intense relationships and complex emotions. Daddy Jack, whose life Garbert had saved, lived with them alongside grandmother Mother Mayes and Willie Bell, the family maid who became Frances's closest confidant. As a spirited and secretive child, Frances absorbed the sweetness of the South through her senses, from the smells and tastes at the family table to the fragrance of hometown trees. Her university years brought freedom and awakened her love of friendship and travel. Eventually she escaped to California, leaving the South behind. Mayes recreates these formative experiences with acute sensory language, exploring how landscape and family define us. This honest and moving memoir reveals how a girl's growing self-knowledge led her away from home and eventually back again.
Genres: 20th-century, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Fitzgerald, Georgia
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
336 pages · Hardcover · Crown