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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I love WW2 fiction, and this story, a split time, goes to the top of my list of favorites. Set in the beautiful vineyards of Champagne, with complex characters and heart-pounding scenes, this one will keep you turning pages late into the night. Highly recommended!
Inès is a new young wife of Michael, and lady of the wine manor, Maison Chauveau. She often feels she is treated like a child, when she is only trying to learn about the wine and how the business is ran. Although, Michael often reminds her that it is not for her to worry, and she should just concern herself with the house matters. She also has tried to befriend Céline, the wife of Michael’s head winemaker but the two don’t seem to have too many similarities and often it becomes awkward between the two. She know sullenly wonders if her marriage was a mistake, as Michael seems different as a husband.
Inès does her best to try and involve herself with the wine and learning the process and business, but it seems she just continues to make mistake after mistake. She then decides to visit an old friend, and is aghast to find they are entertaining Nazi’s in their restaurant. How could Edith and her husband do this? Do they know the truth about them, and what other’s must think of them offering drink and food, and to act as they are all friends.
Although they have not felt the full effects of the war yet, on the manor- soon Nazi’s show up. They need more wine, and they need to inspect the wine making process and tunnels. Just to make sure they are not hiding anything. This puts them all on edge, and the four of them are now all walking on egg shells wonder who to trust and who to keep secrets from. Michael seems to feel that Inès does not understand the war, and the full implications of what is and could happen.
Little does Michael know what really goes on when Inès visits her friend Edith in town every few weeks. She is entangled in the war more than he realizes and in the end it could cost lives if she is not careful. All it takes is for her to bring some refugees to be hidden in the caves for Céline and Michael to finally believe where she stands with the war and what is happening to the Jews.
Present time, Liv is recently divorced after finding her husband has left her for someone much younger. She doesn’t know what to do with her life, as she gave up everything for her husband. Her grandmother Edith will not stand for this, as she didn’t like that husband of her’s anyways and decides that Liv needs a distraction and new start in Paris- unbeknownst to Liv. As always, she does what her grandmother asks and heads to Paris with her, and through her journey she finds herself in her grandmother’s true past.
Such another great read by Kristin Harmel! I love the dual storylines, and how often the past can reconnect or teach a lesson in current times. This was another great novel about resistance and how refugees were hidden during the war. It seems that there is not anything that wasn’t attempted or done to help others. It truly is amazing to read all of the stories of these heroes.
The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel
Enjoying this read as I feel like I hit the jackpot, 2 stories in one book.
Ines is in France and wants to help not only the family wine business but also the resistance, by keeping Germans out.
Love hearing of the chambers underground, sound so cool to wander around.
They are also used in other ways…. she heads to her friends house sometimes spending the night and her path crosses with the Germans…
Story also follows Liv who’s left her boyfriend and her aunt came to her rescue by taking her overseas.
She is fascinated by the grandmother’s lawyer, who has papers for her. Liv has no idea what they are all about but one day at lunch the grandmother acts odd.
Liv is able to see the pictures on the walls and knows the grandmother was in one of the but is not sure of the connection.
At times very terrifying. Love how the stories come together, didn’t see it happening at all!
Love this author’s works, books are long but it’s the story she tells that make it all super worth while. Can’t wait to read more of her works.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
WW11 w new twist of course wine making during German Occupation. 2 couples w interest parts 2 play.
One simple-headed, shallow winemaker’s wife makes an unbelievable impact on so many people…a Jewish lawyer, an employee and her daughter, and the French Resistance. She made so many mistakes, but she eventually worked hard to make-up for them. Really, all of the main characters do some good throughout the war, but their personal lives were a mess. Not one of the main characters is wholly good and deserving of the readers’ blind adoration.
I liked the author’s genuine voice and storytelling. The author captured the extremes of the various early views on the war/occupation and the naiveite of many. I loved learning a little about the role of the champagne houses in the resistance.
“Nothing great happens without great risk”
I’m okay with flawed characters, but these are irredeemable. Although I liked the story overall, the adultery and disloyal friends detracted from my enjoyment. The ending is wrapped up a little too neatly.
I enjoyed this book as I saw it as a book on character, the traits we all share but how we use them to act on hard facing decisions during a time of chaos. When it comes to the leading character, Inès, I yelled at her at times and I cried with her at others and the same could be said of the other characters. It was a great read, a little slow, but worth the time.
As I read The Winemaker’s Wife, I fluctuated between rating this with 3 and 4 stars, but by the end I was disappointed that I didn’t like this book as much as I thought I would. It had all the earmarks of a great novel but I found the characters to be unlikable, especially those in the World War II timeline. The main character, Ines, who was the winemaker’s wife, was incredibly thoughtless, selfish, and foolhardy. I also thought the plot was predictable and I guessed the “big secret” about halfway through the book. Maybe I’ve read too many better-written WWII novels.
Thanks to the Cozy Mystery Review Crew and publisher Gallery Books for a copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.
Despite the unlikable characters, I couldn’t put it down. Champagne, infidelity, treachery, betrayal, brutal Nazis, secrets, this book has it all.
This was the first book by this author that I had read. It was great. I would think just another few pages and then an hour or two later I would have read another 40, 60 or 100 pages. This is one of those books I thought about the characters long after I had finished reading this book.
Excellent read!
This review is also available on my blog, Wine Cellar Library.
First, I would like to thank NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with a free Kindle ARC edition of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Please make a movie! Please please please!
I absolutely loved this book. Honestly, what’s not to love? World War II history, winemaking, a love triangle, and a sharp grandmother who keeps you on your toes in between sips of her martini!
There are two alternating timelines with three different narrators. The stories of Inès and Céline begin in 1940, whereas Liv’s story begins in 2019.
Inès is the wife of Michel Chauveau, who owns the winery Maison Chauveau. She struggles with feelings of loneliness and inadequacy, which drive her to make rash decisions that endanger her life and others’. Despite Michel and Céline’s judgments of Inès, the author writes her character in a way that allows you to sympathize with her…to a point.
Céline is married to the chef de cave of the Maison Chauveau, Theo. The couple lives in a cottage on the winery grounds, so their lives are closely intertwined with Michel and Inès. Half Jewish, she is in constant fear for her father and her paternal grandparents as Jews are increasingly arrested under frivolous charges. Her husband is keen to ignore everything outside of the work at hand, imagining that everything will blow over in due time. Working in close proximity, Céline finds solace with Michel, and despite her good intentions, things will become complicated.
Liv, recently divorced, is whisked away to France by her elderly grandmother without explanation. The more she figures out her grandmother’s reasoning for doing so, the harder her grandmother pushes her away. Has she brought Liv across an entire ocean to play matchmaker? Or is there a deeper reason…a painful history that is too difficult to share?
Although there are many true historical facts about the contributions of the people of Reims to le Résistance, the main characters and the Maison Chauveau are fictional. There are also phrases spoken in French and German throughout the book. I believe the phrases in both languages are written with enough context to allow someone who speaks neither language to understand the phrases without the help of a translator.
This book was captivating: heartbreaking yet heartwarming, tragic yet uplifting. It is now at the top of my recommendations list for anyone who loves historical fiction!
#netgalley #thewinemakerswife
“You can’t rewrite the past. But you can choose to live with your whole heart in the here and now.”
This is the story of the fictional house of Maison Chauveau, a champagne vintner in Northern France. The history goes back for decades prior to the Second World War, and stretches beyond the current time. It is a story that is fiction, but may have deep roots in the true French history of resistance and viniculture.
Olivia[Liv] Kent has lost everything: job, husband, and whatever life she has made in New York when her 99-year old grandmother sweeps her up and brings her to France to share the stories she needs to before it’s too late. The past and the present meet head on in history that changes everyone’s future.
I won this ARC of by then a published book in the realm of WW2 history, and, since there seems to be a glut of them, it sat for a while before I read it. It’s a bit long, but keeps you reading as Kristin Harmel pours her love of all things French into this, her latest work. Although it is a bit long, the story is wonderful. I give it 4 1/2 stars and recommend it.
A tragic yet hopeful story of Champagne during the German occupation during World War II. I love this book’s flawed, complicated characters and the fact that Kristin Harmel was able to make you sympathize with each of them while also questioning why they’d done what they had done. An excellent historical novel to start the fall reading season with!
WOW! This is the first book by Kristin Harmel I have read. The Winemaker’s Wife had me captivated from start to finish. Intriguing, page turning, emotional,
heartbreaking story you won’t want to put down. Set in the Champagne vineyards of northern France during WWII.
A story of dark family secrets,love, hope, regret, forgiveness, betrayal and loyalty, in 1940 and present day.
Keep the Kleenex near by because tears will flow.
Liv Kent is trying to overcome a bad relationship when her grandmother shows up at her door and whisk her off to France. This sends Liv on a quest to find out what her grandmother is hiding.
This story is told during two different time periods. One during WWII occupation of France and the other is the present. Usually when I read a book written in two different time periods, I enjoy the historical fiction part more. This was not the case in this story. I enjoyed present story the best. I loved the characters and the mystery. Liv’s grandmother is eccentric and a downright hoot! Plus, she is hiding something and she is not going to tell it till she is good and ready.
The World War II section is very unique. It incorporates the French resistance. Their struggles to save their country are truly amazing. I enjoyed the way the author expounds on the smuggling of weapons and the secrecy required to keep from getting caught.
This is such a well researched and wonderfully written book. Don’t miss this one!
Informative, beautiful, and tragic!
The Winemaker’s Wife is a stirring, immersive story set in France during the early 1940s, as well present day, that is told primarily from three different perspectives; Inès Chauveau, a young wife who after feeling neglected and misunderstood naively makes choices that have far-reaching, life-changing consequences; Céline Laurent, the half-Jewish wife of Chauveau’s winemaker who lives in constant fear of the advancing Germans except when deep within the vineyard caves where she finds solace, hope, contentment, and love; and Liv Kent, a recently divorced American who journeys to France at the request of her grandmother only to uncover a family history that’s littered with secrets, betrayals, and sacrifices.
The prose is preceptive, vivid, and sincere. The characters are courageous, vulnerable, and resilient. And the plot is a heartrending tale that gives us a unique view into the struggles, sacrifices, horrors, and bravery of those who lived and survived in the Champagne region during this heinous time in history.
The Winemaker’s Wife is, ultimately, a story about life, love, loss, deception, determination, perseverance, resistance efforts, intricacies of winemaking, and the importance of forgiveness. It’s pensive, moving, and thoroughly absorbing and a fantastic choice for historical fiction fans and book clubs everywhere.
Kristin Harmel has written another beautiful WWII historical fiction novel. I was completely engrossed in this book from the very beginning. A story of courage, love, betrayal and forgiveness with characters I will not quickly forget. This one is going on my Favorite Books for 2019. I highly recommend it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.
WOW! What an incredible story, I could not put this book down! Absolutely fascinating, riveting! This was one a my favorite books so far this year 🙂
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.
I’ve been on a World War 2, Strong Women stuck in Rough Situations, the power of Right over Wrong reading stage. The Winemaker’s Wife fits perfectly with this genre. A very enjoyable book!