by Loretta Ellsworth
A Riveting and Smartly Structured Story
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SUMMARY
It is a memorable story of war, love, and family when two women from different continents' lives intersect and a life-changing connection is made.
In 1942, A scared father, a winemaker, hides his seven-year-old daughter Martine in an armoire as the Germans are approaching his vineyard. He gives her a bottle of wine and tells her to protect it until he comes home. The Germans take Martine’s Jewish father. She accidentally drops the bottle when she witnesses the Germans also taking away her father’s vineyard’s caretaker. She runs and, with a bit of help, eventually makes it to Paris, where a nun rescues her from a nearby abbey.
In 1990, Charlotte was a bright and beautiful commercial airline captain well ahead of her time. While in Paris, she discovers that one of the bottles of wine she and her boyfriend had bought at a wine auction is extremely valuable. Under the bottle's label is a mysterious note and a second, more elaborate label indicating that the wine was from the Burgundy region of France. Charlotte begins a quest to find who this bottle had belonged to and what had happened to them.
REVIEW
The French Winemaker’s Daughter is a riveting story set in Paris and the French wine regions. While WWII plays a role in the book for Martine, it is not the story's whole focus. The story is about survival, recovery, love, and family. I enjoyed learning about the history of the wine in that area, and my favorite part was Charlotte’s moral need to find the story behind the bottle of wine she found.
There are actually three female characters who serve as the pillars of the story. Martine and Charlotte are both intriguing and gripping characters, but it is Sister Ada who heroically rescues Martine in Paris and plays a pivotal role in the abbey.
Author Loretta Ellsworth’s writing was superb, and dual narratives were smartly structured. The narrator Caroline Hewitt audio performance was delightful and bought the .
Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher Harper Audio
Published December 10, 2024
Narrated Caroline Hewitt
Category Religion and Spirituality, Women’s Fiction
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com
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