Gail Mencini

Gail was born and raised in a rural community in Nebraska where everyone knew their neighbors and summers were spent outdoors—working, playing, or watching fireflies. Her love for reading books and imagining characters and their stories germinated during those days of creating her own world. Gail's parents, who visited every continent except Antarctica, sparked her love of travel and adventure, which burns brighter than ever. She was raised to be independent. College and grad school brought Gail training in tax law, and for many years she practiced as a CPA using that knowledge. The miracle in her life occurred when she married her loving husband. He, along with their four sons, their activities, and the family dogs, made her life brim with joy. One hot July summer in Key West, Gail and her husband toured Ernest Hemingway’s house. Smacked in the face with the master writer’s ghost and palpable presence, she confessed her secret desire to write books. Unlike Gail, her husband felt only the heat and humidity and not a trace of Ernest. Her confession led to a novel that won contests, but otherwise never saw the light of day. Years of writing, revising, and rejections occurred, and then kernel of an idea, and several trips to Italy, evolved into To Tuscany with Love. Living in the beautiful state of Colorado, being a wife, mother, writer, and breast cancer survivor, Gail knows she truly blessed.