Joan Chatfield-Taylor is a freelance writer who has contributed to such publications as the San Francisco Chronicle, Architectural Digest, Town & Country, Allure, Cosmopolitan, New York Times travel, and Food & Wine. She is the author of two books on the San Francisco Opera published by Chronicle Books, as well as Visiting Eden (Chronicle Books, 1997) and Picnics (Taylor and Ng, 1980). She, too, changed course at mid-life and moved to France for a period. Chatfield-Taylor now lives in San Francisco.