Marcia DeSanctis

This is debut collection of pieces pulled from the past 10 years of Marcia DeSanctis's writing for various outlets. I liked it—the book covers different ground from a standard collection of travel writing, and a lot of it is very interior—the push and pull of home vs. away is a major theme, the need for solitude, using travel as a way to figure out what you're doing, getting older. That mix worked nicely for me—I found her relatable and warm, and as all good travel writing should, it made the armchair traveler in me a little itchy. My interview with DeSanctis about the book is up at Bloom.… (altro)

I'm a lucky girl. In 2010, in what must have been a heavenly intervention, I was able to leave my ordinary life, fly across the big ocean, and spend two weeks in amazing France.

I still can't quite believe it happened. And I will never forget that trip.

And how about you, my friend? Are you like I was for so many years, desperately hoping to find a way to go there? Or have you been there, like me, and think every day about going back?

I have the perfect solution for all of us women...everyone who has been once and hopes to go again...everyone who has never been but hopes one day to go...and even those who know in their hearts that they will probably never get to go...and here it is: 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go by Marcia DeSanctis. It is perfect for you to plan, to dream, to scheme about all the best places we women should visit in France. DeSanctis choose all the beautiful places, all the fun places, all the quiet places, all the secret places that we want to go---sometimes places we don't know we want to go.

And even if you never get to put these plans into reality (as I suspect will happen to me), so what? You can still read about these hundred wonderful places, and, for a time, you will be there.

It's much more than a Best of book; I felt while I was reading it like DeSanctis herself was sitting in the room with me, telling me stories about places she had ventured to in France, sharing secrets she was afraid to tell too many people.

Here are some of the wonderful places DeSanctis shares: the lavender route in Provence; make-your-own-perfume in Grasse; the inspiring Marie Curie Museum in Paris; French language immersion classes; a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a 3-star restaurant in France; George Sand's house in Nohant; the beaches of the Battle of Normandy; the lighthouses of Brittany...oh, I could go on and on.

Not only does DeSanctis make great choices, but can she ever write! Here is a little sample from her book:
"Ile Saint-Honorat is a place to pose your own questions and find the silence in which to resolve them in the dry heat among 17the century olive trees and gatherings of palm, parasol pines and cypress. This is where to come for a spiritual retreat (you don't need to be Catholic---you just need to crave some solitude) and to live from two to six days as the monks do: simply, closely connected to the land they carefully tend. When I disembark at the island's tiny harbor, I head past lavender bushes along a densely packed red soil path that leaves a claylike residue on the soles of my shoes. I ask my friend what smells so sublime. Eucalyptus, pine, dry wood, tea olive blossoms and vine, perhaps something sweet that blows in over the waves. The island is blanketed by the pastel shadows of the Mediterranean sun and supported by a foundation of secluded coves, chalky cliffs and rugged beaches, which frame the vineyards and wild vegetation that cover the parts of Saint-Honorat that the remains of medieval chapels do not...."

You see what I mean, don't you? Yes. Let me give you a minute to take in one more breath of that eucalyptus and pine. Ah. Now go on. Go. Go get this book.… (altro)