Promotional Information

* Author PR activity to include down-the-line media interviews and features * Review and feature coverage anticipated across the national press and women's magazines * Radio reading likely * Submitted for trade promotions * Books for Cooks event with recipes cooked by the author

About the Author

Marlena de Blasi has been a chef, a journalist, a food and wine consultant and a restaurant critic. The author of two cookbooks, one of which won the James Beard Award, she now directs gastronomic tours through Tuscany and Umbria.

Reviews

Picking up where her A Thousand Days in Venice left off, American author and chef de Blasi and her Italian husband trade their stable life in Venice for a potentially idyllic Tuscan one. Taken under the wing by a local who mentors her foray into the ways of the past, the author participates in every aspect of the local food culture, from harvesting grapes to truffle hunting, and vividly describes her adopted community through its preparation and celebration of food. Equal parts an exploration of Tuscan food and culture and a touching story of its people, this book supplemented with complementary recipes reads more like a novel than the memoir it is. Recommended for public libraries and larger cooking collections. Sheila Kasperek, Mansfield Univ. Lib., PA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

'De Blasi's glittering descriptions and mouthwatering recipes take you directly into the heart of Italy and into the souls of the Italian people' Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia 'Filled with warmth and the rich and simple drama of a beautiful life. The evocation of country dishes is mouthwatering, the lyrical beauty irresistible' Susan Herrmann Loomis, author of On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town A love poem to de Blasi's professional life as a chef' USA Today 'This memoir of the seasons in a small Tuscan village is rich with food, weather, romance, and, above all, life ... [de Blasi] immerses her readers in life's poignancy, brevity, and wonder' Publishers Weekly

From its opening scene of an impromptu alfresco village feast of fried zucchini blossoms, fennel-roasted pork, and pudding made from the cream of a local blue-eyed cow, this memoir of the seasons in a small Tuscan village is rich with food, weather, romance and, above all, life. De Blasi continues the adventures begun in her A Thousand Days in Venice, as she and her husband, Fernando, leave Venice for Tuscany in search of "a place that still remembers real life... sweet and salty... each side of life dignifying the other." Fortunately, the two are adopted by Barlozzo, an elderly local eager to share his knowledge of the old ways. He introduces them to the local customs: grape harvesting, truffle hunting, bread baking, etc. Although the book teems with food references, including recipes for intriguing traditional dishes, de Blasi is more than a sunny regional food writer-she digs into the meaning of life. As she fights Fernando's periodic depressions and brings him back to joy, gains Barlozzo's trust and love, learns his troubling lifelong secrets and comes to terms with the death of a beloved friend, she immerses her readers in life's poignancy, brevity and wonder. Agent, Rosalie Siegel. (Nov. 5) Forecast: Fans of Frances Mayes's oeuvre will gravitate to this, as well as those who read A Thousand Days in Venice. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.