About AN ITALIAN AFFAIR When Laura Fraser's husband leaves her for his high school sweetheart, she takes off, on impulse, for the Italian island of Ischia, to nurse her shattered ego. There she meets M., an aesthetics professor from Paris with an oversized love of life. What they both assume will be a casual vacation tryst turns into a passionate, transatlantic love affair, as they rendezvous in Marrakech, Lago Maggiore, Stromboli, London, and San Francisco--each encounter a delirious immersion into place (sumptuous food and wine, dazzling scenery, lush gardens, and vibrant streetscapes) and into each other. And each experience also becomes for Laura another step toward a fully recovered sense of her emotional and sexual self. Both travelogue and memoir, An Italian Affair is wonderfully made of rich, sensual detail, with the irresistible honesty of a story told from and about the heart. "Luscious. . .Fraser is such a charmer, so smart, honest, observant, incisive and funny, that within a few pages the reader is entirely hers." --Washington Post "Sweet, smart. We are smitten from the start. . .How Fraser makes such familiar material fresh and alluring is the heart and soul of this likeable, assured memoir." -- O Magazine "[This] sexy memoir gives new meaning to the word wanderlust." -- Glamour "Fraser's narrative is both a grand travelouge and a thoughtful look at reclaiming independence."--Conde Nast Traveller

Laura's Snapshots From Filicudi Island... from Italy from Lipari from Naples from Filicudi Island from Morocco     About AN ITALIAN AFFAIR An Interview with Laura Fraser An excerpt: Chapter 3 of AN ITALIAN AFFAIR "Sant' Angelo" Photographs from the time and locations portrayed in the book ESSAYS BY LAURA FRASER On Writing A Book About One's Own Personal Life Why I Stopped Being a Vegetarian Why It's Rude to Diet in Public The Question of Marriage Tips to Fit in With the Locals Travel Packing Tips RECIPES Southern Italian Pasta Sauce Other Recipes ITALIAN PHRASES Handy Italian Phrases for Lovers

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Laura Fraser has written for Salon.com, Vogue, Glamour, Mother Jones, Self, The San Francisco Examiner, Gourmet, and Health, among other publications. She has taught magazine writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco. An excerpt: Chapter 3 of AN ITALIAN AFFAIR "Sant' Angelo" Photographs from the time and locations portrayed in the book ESSAYS BY LAURA FRASER On Writing A Book About One's Own Personal Life Why I Stopped Being a Vegetarian Why It's Rude to Diet in Public The Question of Marriage Tips to Fit in With the Locals Travel Packing Tips RECIPES Southern Italian Pasta Sauce Other Recipes ITALIAN PHRASES Handy Italian Phrases for Lovers

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Memoir/Travel | Vintage Books | Trade Paperback | May 2002 | $12.00 | 0-375-72485-0