The Winemaker's Wife

Kristin Harmel

Aug 2019 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

The author of the “engrossing” (People) international bestseller The Room on Rue Amélie returns with a moving story set amid the champagne vineyards of France during the darkest days of World War II, perfect for fans of Heather Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

Champagne, 1940: Inès has just married Michel, the owner of storied champagne house Maison Chauveau, when the Germans invade. As the danger mounts, Michel turns his back on his marriage to begin hiding munitions for the Résistance. Inès fears they’ll be exposed, but for Céline, the French-Jewish wife of Chauveau’s chef de cave, the risk is even greater—rumors abound of Jews being shipped east to an unspeakable fate.

When Céline recklessly follows her heart in one desperate bid for happiness, and Inès makes a dangerous mistake with a Nazi collaborator, they risk the lives of those they love—and the vineyard that ties them together.

New York, 2019: Recently divorced, Liv Kent is at rock bottom when her feisty, eccentric French grandmother shows up unannounced, insisting on a trip to France. But the older woman has an ulterior motive—and a tragic, decades-old story to share. When past and present finally collide, Liv finds herself on a road to salvation that leads right to the caves of the Maison Chauveau.

Ratings and reviews

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Kristin Harmel, and Gallery Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this historical novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. The Winemaker's Wife is an excellent historical novel based on a great deal of background research by the author, Kristin Harmel. The locale is confined for the most part to the Champagne area of France, the imagined Maison Chauveau of Ville-Dommange based on several actual vineyards in that storied valley and the township of Reims. We have alternating timelines from the Second World War years in the voices of Ines Chauveau, wife of winery owner Michel, and Celine Laurent, wife of Michel's chef de cave, Theo. The modern times are presented in the voice of Olivia Thierry Kent (Chauveau) and the reluctant memories of 99-year-old Grandma Edith. These travels back and forth in time are easily followed, the personalities sharp and well defined, the mystery buried deep. Whether you are a history buff, have a WWII interest or love a good love story, this book is for you. The Winemaker's Wife is a novel I will treasure and will read again when the mood strikes. It is a novel I am happy to refer to friends and family. This novel can take you there.

This book has captured my interest.

Good

About the author

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is published in more than thirty languages and is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends & Fiction. She lives in Orlando, Florida.