Instant #1 bestseller from The Globe and Mail (Toronto) and The Toronto Star “Love and betrayal, forgiveness and redemption combine in a heady tale of the ever-present past…fantastic!” —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris The author of the “engrossing” (People) international bestseller The Room on Rue Amélie returns with a moving story set amid the champagne … bestseller The Room on Rue Amélie returns with a moving story set amid the champagne vineyards of northern France during the darkest days of World War II, perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale.
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, half-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 champagne house that ties them together.
New York, 2019: Liv Kent has just lost everything when her 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.
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The Winemaker’s Wife is a beautifully told, atmospheric story about redemption, heartbreak, resilience, and courage. With evocative prose and a lush setting in a champagne winery, it reminds us of the power of secrets, and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love.
This book took me away. Away to a life that thank goodness we don’t have to live now. But of course that is what Inès, Céline, Michel, and Theo thought at the time too. They never expected that the war and the Germans would affect them the way it did. There is also Edith, Inès’s best friend and her husband Eduard. They play a fairly big part in this book and in the resistance during the war.
This book is told from Liv’s life in the present and then between Inès and Céline during the war in the late 1930s-1940s. Each has had much upheaval in their lives. Things happened that they didn’t expect.
Liv, newly divorced and without a job is newly divorced. Her ex has already moved on, even before the divorce started. Her grandmother, Grandma Edith, comes and takes her to France to get away from her life in NY and help her move on with her life.
Grandma Edith is one of my favorite characters with the exception that she is not a very loving or patient person. She loves Liv and will do anything for her now. She’s had a very hard life and much of it will come out in this book. The things she did and the guilt she fells follow her to her very last days. Despite her many failures she did a lot to help during the war. She helped many people but never felt like she truly was a good person. I thought she made a grave mistake when she thought Michel treated her inferior and like she couldn’t do anything right. I didn’t agree with some things she did but it pulled the story together to make it what it was. Also Celine and Michel were wrong in things they did. But again it was part of the storyline and set it up for what it was.
A book about love, betrayal, murder, cruelty, war, fear, sadness, loss and through many tears, this book takes you from present day to the past during WW2. To the winemaking houses and the business in town where the Germans took over and destroyed so many lives. To the resistance and the deaths of some good people. Mistakes that were made and loyalties that were broken. To the sorrows that follow when huge mistakes are made during a time when someone is hurt deeply. From the birth of a child who is part Jewish and then disappeared, to the mother who was thought dead. From public executions to the people left behind that relive these things their whole lives.
This was a very good, very touching story of such deep loss. A story of how a group of people helped save France after it was torn apart by an evil group who wanted to rule the world. How anyone can think they are so much better than another boggles my brain. How the Germans can think they are superior to the Jewish people was so cruel yet we see these things in everyday life even now. Prejudice is so awful. So horrible in fact.
Liv’s grandma Edith had a story to tell her but she had so much guilt on her that it was almost impossible for her to say the words. The ending of this book was told perfectly. It was a beautiful yet tragic story of love, loss and heartache. Death, life and moving on. For 99 years Grandmother Edith held on to a story that would change Liv’s life forever.
It’s also got a bit of a love story thrown in. Both in the 1940s and in the present. Love does not always prevail but it can. During a war it’s hard to keep the love strong. There are to many betrayals and lives lost. In the present there is a new love happening for Liv and the grandson of someone that Inès helped back when things were at their worse.
This is a book about war. A book about love. Betrayal and guilt. But it’s a book that will make you want more. It will make you appreciate the freedoms you have and hope we always have. Life was so hard during the war times. More than my mind can imagine without the help of a good book and this was an excellent book. Told in a way that makes you feel the things that are happening both in the present and the past. The past broke my heart. I shed many tears reading what happened to people during that war in that country in that house where the wine was made and the Germans took what they wanted when they wanted.
A must read by anyone who loves a good yet tragic story of love, loss and then found again in many ways. Forgiveness, moving on and finding the history of a family in a time when things go terribly wrong.
I received a copy of this book via #NetGalley and #Gallery books for my complete and honest review.
A 5 star and high recommendation from me.
Champagne will have a new and special meaning to me after reading this book. “This champagne represents history, my dear. Heroism. Bravery. The people behind these wines helped save France.” There’s so much history to the craft of winemaking and the winemakers who produce this product. As the author took me back to the 1940’s and the invasion by the Nazi’s into the vineyards of northern France, I found myself immersed into the story as if I were living it along beside the characters.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre and Ms. Harmel has written a novel that made me take a look at what happened in history through these pages. I became one with the characters living the horror and dread of what was unfolding during the invasion and the rounding up of a people just because of their religion. I felt the fear of never knowing when their lives would be changed. Living in dread day after day. I joined the Resistance Fighters who put their lives on the line to protect the Jews and their beloved country of France. It was as if I were there.
The characters are in complicated situations. The story is written in a dual time line about characters that are related to each other. I enjoyed the way the present day story was intertwined with the past and how as each piece was placed it became a whole picture. There are characters I fought with in my heart and drew the courage to do what they had to in order to protect each other. I hurt, I cried, I felt the betrayals and the dread. I felt the forbidden love and yearning to express that love. I felt the loneliness. There are secrets that can’t come out and what the consequences of what that would be. The author has a talent for bringing the story to life in my mind.
The setting the author put this story in had me envisioning the tunnels of the caves where the champagne was kept in the barrels, the lush vineyards and grapes, the beautiful House of Chauveau, and just being in the country of France both in the past and also the present. I am intrigued by this history and how it resulted in the efforts of the French Resistance. It would be frightening to do what they did, but survival and determination would make that strength rise up.
There are so many passages that Ms. Harmel wrote in this book that made the characters have the depth and ability for me to relate to.
“We all make mistakes. But life goes on, and we can always become better. It’s not the decisions in your past that matter, but the choices you make about your future.”
“So you see,” Rene concluded triumphantly, “when you drink a glass of Chauveau, you are really tasting heroism in all those bubbles. The Maison Chauveau helped save France.”
That last passage takes me back to the first sentence of my review….I will always appreciate how the author wrote this story to honor the spirit and determination of the French people. I love learning new things from history and this book has taken me to that place. I want to thank Ms. Harmel and Netgalley for the honor of reading this book! A five star read for me.
What a fantastic book! Kristin is such a great writer and has done so much research for her books. She brings her characters to life and really just want to reach in the book and help them out of the horrible mess they are in. Do I recommend this book, oh most definitely. Be sure to have your tissues handy! Thanks for the great story Kristin!
The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel is a beautifully told Holocaust era novel recounting the life of Michel Chavreau and his wife, Ines; Edouard Thierry and his wife, Edith; Theo Laurent and his wife, Celine; as well as Samuel Cohn and his grandson, Julien; and Liv, through whose eyes much of this tale is told. It was a terrible time in France with the Nazi occupation reaching even into the country where Maison Chavreau was located, deep in Champagne. Fine champagnes had been made there for years and it seemed idyllic, but in reality held many secrets. It is the story of an immature young woman confronted with the horrors of occupation and war. Ines had no support. She was a young woman adrift: her husband was cold, her friends were busy with their lives, and war made everything difficult.
Harmel did a wonderful job moving the plot along but not really revealing the ending until it was upon the reader. The story was told from alternate viewpoints from 1940-1945 by the characters as they lived it, playing off Liv’s odd trip with her 99-year-old grandmother in the year 2019. Back and forth, back and forth, finally revealing all. The story had the happiest possible ending in a no-win story that had me in tears for the last fifth of the book. Holocaust stories are always difficult to read, always from the viewpoint of the survivor and always touching. This was a wonderful journey through the lives and loves of people living the horrors of the time, some coming out the other end, some not. Heartbreaking as it was, this was a beautiful story. One I hope you will read. I highly recommend it.
I received a free ARC of The Winemaker’s Wife. All opinions and interpretations are solely my own. #netgalley #thewinemakerswife
This is my first time reading this author and I am so glad I did even though this left my heart bleeding. I don’t agree with the choices some of the characters made, but that’s real life. Being young and amidst the chaos of war decisions are made that have repercussions many years later. I’m a big fan of Split Time novels and this didn’t disappoint. The historical aspect I found enlightening as I didn’t realize that winemakers were treated differently because of their ability to provide alcohol to the Germans. I found the writing style to be impeccable and kept me engaged throughout. I enjoyed the twist towards the end that I suspected but wasn’t quite sure of. This is a wonderful book written about difficult situations and circumstances but ends with forgiveness and new beginnings. I always need tissues when reading about WWII and I definitely needed many for this one.
I won a copy of this book from Goodreads. The honest review and opinions are my own and were not required.
Full disclosure: the members of my book club each received a free proof of this book through the galley match program ( #GalleyMatch or @gallerybooks ) before it’s release in return for our honest feedback.
This well written historical novel is told from the point of view of three different women in alternating chapters. The first two are living in the Champagne making region of France during World War II,
Young and impulsive newlywed Inez is struggling to fit in at Maison Chauveau under the Nazi occupation. Born to a different life, champagne production is foreign to her. Having no family, the transition to her new life is made more difficult by the distance from her old friends, the isolation of the countryside, and the over-protectiveness of husband, Michel, who is secretly involved with the Résistance.
Also living at the maison is half-Jewish Celine, the wife of Theo, the Chauveau’s chef de cave. She’s a bit older than Inez and grew up making wine so the work there is second nature for her. She worries about her family as she struggles to remain under the radar of the Nazi occupiers. These two very different women struggle to form a friendship as they assist in the production of the champagne.
The third woman, newly divorced Liv, lives in the present (Summer 2019). Her elderly French grandmother, Edith, has arrived to whisk Liv off to France so she can move on with her life. But Edith has another motivation, secrets that she wants to reveal before it’s too late. It’s hard for Edith to share what’s been deeply buried for so long and progress is slow. While Liv awaits each tidbit about her grandmother’s past she explores the region on her own, finding some clues along the way.
The connection of Edith’s life to each of these women drives the action forward. During the war danger grows when chances are taken and mistakes are made. In the current day, Liv is beginning to resume living her life as she waits for Edith to divulge more.
You won’t want to put this novel set in World War II France down!
France, wine, WWII, present day, and love – all of this wrapped into one amazing, difficult-to-put-down read.
We meet Inez, Celine, Michel, Thor, Liv, and Liv’s French grandmother, Edith, as the story moves back and forth in time.
We find out about the lives of the winemakers during the war and a secret that grandmother has kept for many years as well as a connection that the vineyards, a restaurant, and the characters have to both time periods and to their lives.
Grandmother Edith was my favorite character…mysterious and stubborn all rolled into one.
Liv was likable as well.
Inez, Celine, Michel, and Thor were interesting, and their wine tunnels were fascinating.
We learn more of the war, the resistance, the French people involved in the resistance, and how the danger of making one simple mistake could alter the safety of many people.
THE WINEMAKER’S WIFE is another marvelous, intriguing read about the resiliency and determination of the French people and the entire European population.
Those of us who were not living during this time, do not have any idea of the horrors and hardships endured by the European people.
Ms. Harmel weaved a beautiful tale filled with authentic characters and a story line that kept me turning the pages to learn more as well as cry with the characters.
Absolutely LOVED this book. Do not miss reading this book. 5/5
This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Kristin Harmel has once again written a book that has you deeply invested in the story of Inès, Céline, Edith, and Liv. Her ability to weave the story back and forth in time…during WWII and the Nazi occupation of France and the present day…is a gift. You will be drawn into the lives of the characters and find yourself judging some of them in negative ways. But hold onto your seats, because what you assume to be true may not be the case.
The information you learn about champagne and wine production is interesting. And the willingness of individuals to take a stand against the atrocities of the Nazi invasion…in small and large ways…is impressive.
The background research that the author did to present a story with truth and integrity only adds to its appeal. You will find yourself drawn into the intense dangers, tensions, lies, infidelities, and poor decisions. And hold onto your seats, but there is a great twist at the end. You’ll be gasping in shock!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kristin Harmel for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. To be honest, I can’t wait for the author to release another book!
I loved this book that alternates between France during the nazi-occupied years of World War 11 and the present. Newly-divorced Olivia Kent goes to the Champagne area of France with her French grandmother where she learns about her family’s astonishing history. This tale of love and betrayal, guilt and redemption is alarming and heart-warming by turn and a page turner to the very last word.
This is a good book to read. It wasn’t completely what I was expecting but it was still a good story. It is set in 1940’s and 2019 and goes back and forth between three main characters Ines and Celine in WWII and Liv in the modern day. It shows how the lives intertwine. Has a bit of everything heartache, romance and strife. Well written and fast to read. wish it had more about the resistance than it did but still a very good story.
Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Winemaker’s Wife” by Kristin Harmel, Gallery Books, August 13, 2019
WOW! Kristin Harmel, Author of “The Winemaker’s Wife’ writes an intense, intriguing, captivating, riveting, page-turning, thought-provoking, heartbreaking and emotional novel. The Genres for this Novel are Historical Fiction and Fiction. There are two different timelines in this story. One takes place around 1940, and one is set in the present. Like pieces in a puzzle, the two eventually fall into place. The first timeline is during the occupation of France by Germany and World War Two. The story takes place at the champagne vineyards in Northern France. The author describes her dramatic cast of characters as complex, complicated, each with their own set of problems possibly due to the circumstances.
When one thing of good champagne, one associates it usually with happiness, cheer, and when congratulations are in order. I don’t think any of us can imagine, the blood, sweat, and tears that occurred in France around 1940 during World War Two in the champagne vineyards and caves. I don’t think we think of the German occupation and the French Resistance. I appreciate that the author has done extensive research during this time period. It is not something that is easy to forget.
Michel, the owner of the Maison Chauveau, a champaign house marries Ines. As the Germans get closer, Michel becomes preoccupied with what he feels is the appropriate things to do during the war. He becomes less involved with his wife. Michel’s top winemaker’s wife Celine is partly Jewish, and that becomes a concern as the Germans start to round up Jewish families. It is difficult during the worst of times, to really know who loyal people are.
This is a story of loyalties, betrayals, dark secrets, redemption, forgiveness, love, and hope. I was deeply moved and touched by this story. Be warned: Keep the Kleenex close. I would highly recommend this intense and page-turning novel. I can easily see this be adapted to the screen.
The Winemaker’s Wife is a fantastic work of Historical Fiction going from the late 1930’s and mid 1940’s while also visiting the present. The story takes you to the vineyards of France during the occupation by the Germans, the story of those who worked for the French Resistance and those who collaborated with the Germans. It’s a story of a woman who spent her whole life trying to atone for mistakes she made in her youth. There are twists and turns within this story you never see coming.
Kristin Harmel has written an intriguing and beautiful story of love and heartbreak, trust and betrayal, and a definition of family that is not necessarily tied by blood. The writing is exceptional and all encompassing as you live the story.
I absolutely loved this story and can’t recommend it highly enough. If you love historical fiction, if you love an extremely engaging and wonderful storyline full of twists, turns and intrigue this is a MUST read!
The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel is set in and around Reims, France. The reader can tell that Harmel did a lot of research of this area, how champagne is made, and how the champagne makers participated in the resistance during WWII. This book is full of wonderful flawed characters who each have secrets and also have a good side. The novel is told by going back and forth from present day to WWII years.
Twists and turns, secrets and heartbreak, and a satisfying ending make this book a wonderful read. Thank you NetGalley and Gallery,Pocket Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This story is done in a now and then format. Now is Olivia “Liv” Kent in New York, newly divorced from her husband Eric, when whirlwind 99-year-old grandmother Edith Thierry drops in and announces she is taking Liv to France. Then is the story of France during WWII at the Champagne House Maison Chauveau which is run by Michel and his wife Ines along with Theo and his wife Celine. A lot of very interesting happenings occur over the span from 1940 until June 2019. I loved this book. It is very well written, very interesting and I felt the characters were very well developed. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this fantastic book which was a page turner.
What an extraordinary historical fiction book!!! The story setting is a winery in Reims, France during WWII. Michel Chauveau and his wife Inez own the winery with Theo and his wife Celine helping to run it. The story tells the scary tale of WW2 and what happens in the region. The resistance, the absolute terror of the times, and the will of the people determined to survive the Germans. Also in the story in modern day Liv Kent and her grandmother Edith. Liv has just went through a terrible divorce and her Edith takes her to France to show her the past. The dual timelines work wonderful together and I absolutely loved the characters in the book. I could not put this book down as I needed to know what was happening. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
A new historical novel, written by Kristin Harmel, who previous book is The Room on Rue Amelie, delivers another well researched story of the Nazi occupation during WWII. It takes place in champagne producing France, and tells the story of three young couples, struggling to survive Nazi brutality, food shortages and hunger, while continuing to harvest the grapes and make their famous champagne, which the Nazi brass confiscates in alarming numbers.
The author develops strong, interesting characters, that tell their story in two time frames, the war torn years and present day Reims.
My thanks to #NetGalley and #GalleryBooks for the ARC of the interesting tutorial into the process of champagne making, while giving the reader another tragic look at the brutality of war. I thoroughly appreciate the journey.
The year is 2019 and Liv’s marriage has just ended in divorce. Her French grandmother whisks in and takes Liv to Paris. Thus begins a convoluted story. With a great cast of characters and Nazi occupation of France a champagne house tries to survive and make a living. Kristin Harmel’s The Winemaker’s Wife is full of emotions, secrets, poor decisions, consequences, tragedy and drama. I highly recommend it.
5 stars
This book is set in 1940’s Nazi occupied Champagne, France and in the current day.
Ines is a young woman married just a year who is somewhat flighty and really doesn’t seem to have a clue how much danger she and the other French citizens are in for she is very self-absorbed. Feeling unloved she begins a very ill-advised liaison with a Nazi collaborator. This later behavior (amongst other tragic situations), gets her and those she cares about in a great deal of trouble.
Ines’ husband is Michel who owns the House Maison Chaveau Winery and is initially very protective of Ines. This changes, however, and not for the good. But Michele is very overworked and has many concerns of his own.
The couple’s two main employees are Celine who is half Jewish and terrified that the Nazis will find out and her husband Theo who is the chef de cave for the Chaveau Winery. Theo is so wrapped up in creating fine wines that he doesn’t see what is going on around him – or chooses not to.
There is also Edith in the story who plays a major part as well as her granddaughter Olivia “Liv.” Edith at age 99 has many regrets and is full of sadness about the past. Edith may just be the most likable and interesting character in the whole book. Liv is very like Ines in a way. She, too, is self absorbed and constantly asks Edith if she is okay. (It got a little irritating to tell the truth.) These characters are present throughout the book as the plot switches timelines.
There are also many secondary characters who will play important parts.
This book has romance, infidelity, danger, tension, lies and treachery. And…there is a delicious twist toward the end of the book.
This is a very well written, plotted and researched book. I always appreciate a well researched historical novel. ( I liked that Ms. Harmel put in an afterword. It was most informative.) It was very interesting to learn about all the minor and not-so-minor ways which the citizens and resistance fighters employed to thwart the Nazis. I cheered and chuckled for them. I am still thinking about the book and it has been a few days since I finished it. This is my first Kristin Harmel novel, but it won’t be my last. I immediately went to Amazon to look for others of her books.
I want to thank NetGalley and Gallery, Pocket Books/Gallery Books for forwarding to me a copy of this most wonderful and thought-provoking book for me to read, enjoy and review.
The Winemaker’s Wife will take a hold of you at the beginning of the book and not let go to the final page.
The story takes place in both past and present.
There are family secrets, there is war, there is courage, hardship and above all strength .
You don’t always like the main characters but that is what makes them so much more likeable as the book progresses.
The courage that people from The French Resistance had was and is beyond remarkable.
You learn about Champagne .
Please take the time to read the author’s notes.
The Winemaker’s Wife will stay with you long after you have closed the book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for a wonderful read.