The winemaker's wife

Review by Booklist Review

The lives of several strong women intervene in a complicated historical tale of love and war. Set in France's historic champagne vineyards, The Winemaker's Wife begins with rising anxiety about the Nazi's arrival to Maison Chauveau in 1940. Inès Chauveau and her husband/vineyard owner Michael work alongside Theo Laurent, Maison Chauveau's chef de cave or cellar master and his wife Céline. Céline, considered a Jew based on her father's family even though her mother was Catholic, fears the arrival of Germans the most. The story then jumps to the present day with Liv Kent's divorce and the unexpected appearance of her grandmother Edith who whisks her away to Paris. Edith becomes elusive about their purpose in Europe and Liv is introduced to a dashing young lawyer handling her grandmother's affairs. Shifting years and perspectives, lives intersect as Liv, Céline, and Inès cope with fast changes and romantic mistakes. This WW2 novel takes a unique approach with details of the winemaking process highlighting the author's research into the Champagne region.--Monica Garza Bustillo Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Library Journal Review

Alternating between the vineyards of war-torn 1940s France and the present, this new release from Harmel (The Room on Rue Amélie) follows Inès and Michel, newlywed owners of the famed champagne house Maison Chauveau, and the head winemaker's Jewish wife, Céline Laurent. As Germans pillage homes and send Jews to prison camps, Céline draws nearer to Michel for protection, pushing Inès into the arms of another and setting off a chain of dangerous betrayal. The wine cellars beneath Chauveau conceal not only champagne from the Germans but also Resistance weapons, Jewish refugees, and forbidden love affairs. In the present, Liv, 41, unemployed and newly divorced, departs for Paris with her 99-year-old grandmother Edith. Liv questions Edith's connection to Chauveau and Reims. Readers learn Edith's painful secrets and will appreciate the importance of family legacy and the passionate venture of champagne making. Unfolding in multiple viewpoints, the writing is atmospheric and rich, showcasing heavily researched topics of wine making and French Resistance efforts. VERDICT Harmel's touching story of love and loss in World War II France will appeal to fans of Pam Jenoff and Kate Quinn.--Laura Jones, Argos Community Schs., IN

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Harmel (The Room on Rue Amlie, 2018, etc.) returns with another historical novel set in France during World War II.This novel alternates between 1940 at the Chauveau Champagne winery near Reims as the German occupation begins and the present day in the same area, where recently divorced Liv Kent's 99-year-old grandmother, Edith, has brought her so that Edith can attend to some "business." Gradually Liv begins to understand they are in Reims so she can learn what happened in 1940 that changed the futures of her grandparents, their friends, and the Chauveau winery. She discerns this in part from the new man in her life, Julien, grandson and partner of Edith's longtime lawyer. Harmel weaves in real historical figures such as Otto Klaebisch, the "weinfhrer" in Champagne during the war, and Count Robert-Jean de Vog, Resistance leader and head of Mot Chandon. The story of fictional Resistance member and Champagne proprietor Michel Chauveau may be realistic, but parts of the story about his young wife, Ins, are less convincing. The Chauveaus employ winemaker Theo Laurent, whose wife Cline's family is Jewish. While Ins' nave insistence that Cline's family is far from danger is somewhat understandablemany people were unable to believe what was happening at the timeit doesn't square with her recollection of her WWI veteran father insisting "You can never trust the Huns!" Ins' vacillating sympathies might reflect her youth, but they set up a chain of events that leads to dramatic changes in her life, which in turn set up the dramatic unveiling of Edith's secrets in the modern section of the book. All of which requires suspension of disbelief. Liv's love interest, while sudden, is somewhat more believable, as is Edith's reluctance to tell Liv the family history. Even in those sections, Harmel resorts to formulaic moments, such as a mix-up about whether Julien is married and a scene where a character is welcomed to heaven with forgiving words from other characters.A somewhat entertaining but mostly predictable story; Champagne fans and readers who can't get enough WWII fiction will probably still enjoy it. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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The Winemaker's Wife one MAY 1940 INÈS The road snaked over the lush vineyards of Champagne as Inès Chauveau sped southwest out of Reims, clouds of dust ballooning in the wake of her glossy black Citroën, wind whipping ferociously through her chestnut hair. It was May, and already the vines were awakening, their buds like tiny fists reaching for the sun. In weeks they would flower, and by September, their grapes--pale green Chardonnay, inky Pinot Meunier, blueberry-hued Pinot Noir--would be plump and bursting for the harvest. But would Inès still be here? Would any of them? A shiver ran through her as she braked to hug a curve, the engine growling in protest as she turned down the road that led home. Michel would tell her she was driving too quickly, too recklessly. But then, he was cautious about everything. In June, it would be a year since they'd married, and she couldn't remember a day during that time that he hadn't gently chided her about something. I'm simply looking out for you, Inès, he always said. That's what a husband is supposed to do. Lately, nearly all his warnings had been about the Germans, who'd been lurking just on the other side of the impenetrable Maginot Line, the fortified border that protected France from the chaos besetting the rest of Europe. Those of us who were here for the Great War know to take them seriously, he said at least once a day, as if he hadn't been just four years old when the final battle was waged. Of course Inès, younger than Michel by six years, hadn't yet been born when the Germans finally withdrew from the Marne in 1918, after nearly obliterating the central city of Reims. But her father had told enough tales about the war--usually while drunk on brandy and pounding his fist against the table--that she knew to be wary. You can never trust the Huns! She could hear her father's deep, gravelly voice in her ear now, though he'd been dead for years. They might play the role of France's friend, but only fools would believe such a thing. Well, Inès was no fool. And this time, for once, she would bring the news that changed everything. She felt a small surge of triumph, but as she raced into Ville-Dommange, the silent, somber, seven-hundred-year-old Saint-Lié chapel that loomed over the small town seemed to taunt her for her pettiness. This wasn't about who was wrong and who was right. This was about war. Death. The blood of young men already soaking the ground in the forests to the northeast. All the things her husband had predicted. She drove through the gates, braked hard in front of the grand two-story stone château, and leapt out, racing for the door that led down to the vast network of underground cellars. "Michel!" she called as she descended two stone steps at a time, the cool, damp air like a bucket of water to the face. "Michel!" Her voice echoed through the tangled maze of passageways, carved out of the earth three quarters of a century earlier by her husband's eccentric great-grandfather. Thousands of champagne bottles rested on their sides there, a small fortune of bubbles waiting for their next act. "Inès?" Michel's concerned voice wafted from somewhere deep within the cellars, and then she could hear footsteps coming closer until he rounded the corner ahead of her, followed by Theo Laurent, the Maison Chauveau's chef de cave, the head winemaker. "My dear, what is it?" Michel asked as he rushed to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and studying her face. "Are you quite all right, Inès?" "No." She hadn't realized until then how breathless she was from the news and the drive and the rapid descent into the chill of the cellars. "No, Michel, I'm not all right at all." "What's happened?" Michel asked while Theo regarded her silently, his expression as impassive as always. "It has begun," Inès managed to say. "The invasion, Michel. The Germans are coming!" A heavy silence hung in the damp air. How long would it be before the quiet of the cellars was punctured by the thud of goose-stepping boots overhead? Before everything they'd built was threatened, perhaps destroyed? "Well then," Michel said at last. "I suppose it is time we finish hiding the champagne." Excerpted from The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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