Author Description

TRAV Van Hulsteyn, a travel editor for Mademoiselle, entertainingly describes literary homes/haunts/museums and any available bed and breakfasts in or near them. She has organized her work by state (though only 35 of the 50 are included, with California having the most entries). Sometimes she lists only a site and no accommodations. To be included, an author has to be deceased and be one that Van Hulsteyn enjoys reading (Poe appears five times, Twain seven, and Van Hulsteyn says she had to look hard to find the 12 women writers she added in). Location entries include whom to contact, hours of operation, entrance fees, and so on, and what one will find there. The bed-and-breakfast entries give room-rate ranges, number of rooms and bathrooms, wheelchair accessibility, and the like. The descriptions are delightful, information-filled, positively critical, and free of any apparent bias.