Memoir set in Provence – Map of Another Town, MFK Fisher

Map of Another Town, MFK Fisher travels there in style

Map of Another Town by MFK Fisher. 

A vintage classic – it was first published in 1964 – and now rereleased in a colourful new format. M.F.K. Fisher moved to Aix-en-Provence with her daughters after the Second World War. In Map of Another Town, she traces the history of this ancient and famous town. It’s perhaps the ultimate author guide, but what makes this so interesting is the fact she takes you on her personal journey at the same time.

Fisher writes: ‘Here before me now is my picture, my map, of a place and therefore myself.’

BookTrail Travel to the locations in Map of Another Town

BookTrail Travel to the locations in Map of Another Town

Setting: City break

#Bookreview
Susan @thebooktrailer

This is an account not just of PRovence and its people, but of MFK Fisher herself. Well-known for her love of food, she is already known for her book  The Gastronomical Me which is a companion to this memoir. In that, she wrote of her love of food and it was regardede as Fisher’s gastronomical coming of age. In Map of Another Town, she is now older, with  two small children and has a new journey of her life to explore.

Mary Frances Kennedy to give her her full name, was born on July 3, 1908 in Albion, Michigan. She grew up an Episcopalian in a Quaker community. Her book Among Friends takes a look back at this time and its something I definitely want to read now that I’ve ‘met’ her.

This is a wonderful, timeless, guide to the city of Aix en Provence and the surrounding area. It’s a food lover’s delight and mixes the stunning scenery to the food, the people, the atmosphere and even the air they all breathe there. There’s just something about life here in Provence and to discover it through the eyes of such a lady as MFK Fisher is a treat indeed.

You can visit most of the places in the book since it’s based in reality. Her house still stands at 17 Rue Cardinale and although you can’t go inside as it’s a private house and someone else lives there now, you can see it and imagine what went on within. It’s the stories which came from this house that create the book – the wanders through the alleyways, the visit to the market, the coffee at the oldest cafe in Aix. If that’s not enough, there’s a visit back in time to when the Romans walked these streets.

This is some travel guide therefore – an author’s guide but more of an experience of a place and time and a visit through history. The resulting tapestry is one food lovers, readers and travels will gobble up.

BookTrail Travel to the locations in Map of Another Town

Postcard details:  Access The BookTrail’s Map of Locations and travel guide here

More books set in Provence  here

BookTrail Boarding Pass: Map of Another Town

Web: mfkfisher.com/