The Rose Cafe: Love and War in Corsica by John Hanson Mitchell

This memoir captures a place and time exceptionally well. As a young college student in 1962, the American author spent six months working at the Rose Cafe on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Mitchell romantically and magically describes the landscape of the island and its residents and visitors. The eclectic group of "characters" includes the mysterious and humorous. It is a beautiful book with rhythms that I often experienced while outside in the afternoon summer sun.

This book is a discovery that I bet few, unfortunately, know about. The book jacket mentions two of Mitchell's other works that sound intriguing: Following the Sun: A Bicycle Pilgrimage from Andalusia to the Hebrides and The Wildest Place on Earth: Italian Gardens and the Invention of Wilderness. He is also the author of Walking Towards Walden and other books. What a find!