400 pages
William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 6, 2019)
“If you enjoyed Sarah’s Key and Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, then this wonderful book by Ann Mah is for you.” -- Tatiana de Rosnay
Sweetbitter meets The Nightingale in this page-turning novel about a woman who returns to her family’s ancestral vineyard in Burgundy and unexpectedly uncovers a lost diary, an unknown relative, and a secret her family has been keeping since World War II.
To become one of only a few hundred certified wine experts in the world, Kate must pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine examination. She’s failed twice before; her third attempt will be her last chance. Suddenly finding herself without a job and with the test a few months away, she travels to Burgundy to spend the fall at the vineyard estate that has belonged to her family for generations. There she can bolster her shaky knowledge of Burgundian vintages and reconnect with her cousin Nico and his wife, Heather, who now oversee day-to-day management of the grapes. The one person Kate hopes to avoid is Jean-Luc, a talented young winemaker and her first love.
At the vineyard house, Kate is eager to help her cousin clean out the enormous basement that is filled with generations of discarded and forgotten belongings. Deep inside the cellar, behind a large armoire, she discovers a hidden room containing a cot, some Resistance pamphlets, and an enormous cache of valuable wine. Piqued by the secret space, Kate begins to dig into her family’s history—a search that takes her back to the dark days of World War II and introduces her to a relative she never knew existed, a great–half aunt who was a teenager during the Nazi occupation.
As she learns more about her family, the line between resistance and collaboration blurs, driving Kate to find the answers to two crucial questions: Who, exactly, did her family aid during the difficult years of the war? And what happened to six valuable bottles of wine that seem to be missing from the cellar’s collection?
My
Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
I have a constant, nagging undertone of paranoia, like the unrelenting throb of a toothache that I am constantly testing with my tongue.
… Rose’s tragic death still haunted me. I found myself scrutinizing my thoughts, wary I would discover some ingrained bias, some inherent prejudice, some evidence that I was genetically predisposed to moral weakness.
… Rose’s tragic death still haunted me. I found myself scrutinizing my thoughts, wary I would discover some ingrained bias, some inherent prejudice, some evidence that I was genetically predisposed to moral weakness.
My Review:
Written in my favorite dual POV and spanning dual timelines, this engagingly written yet angsty book presented a major challenge. I struggled with the harsh, tense, and oppressive conditions Helene endured before and during WWII, which began long before the German arrived as she suffered a vile and petty stepmother who was prone to selfish behaviors and duplicity. I equally resented her weak father and his neglect in turning a blind eye. I ground my teeth and seethed and then the German's arrived and the tension continued to steadily ratchet up the scale, and I began to bite my cuticles.
Despite constant and steady efforts, my perusal seemed to advance in tiny increments. My reading appeared to be markedly slower than usual as I often needed to pause and look up unfamiliar French words or Google several delectable sounding and savory tidbits which threatened to derail my dieting efforts. And that is not to mention the wine – oh, the wine!
I quickly fell into Ms. Mah’s vortex, her emotive and insightfully observant writing sucked me right in and bedeviled me thereafter. Her alternating storylines were slowly paced, taut with anxiety, and fraught with peril. Both storylines were sweeping and epically pieced together while the writing was lushly descriptive, highly evocative, and heart-squeezing. In addition to Helene’s WWII experiences, an equally compelling tale was also unraveling in the present-day timeline for Helene’s great-niece, who seemed to have the erroneous impression in her understanding of family history. Poor Helene, she seemed to have been given the wrong end of the stick in both periods.
About The Author
Ann Mah is a food and travel writer based in Paris and Washington DC. She is the author of the food memoir Mastering the Art of French Eating, and a novel, Kitchen Chinese. She regularly contributes to the New York Times’ Travel section and she has written for Condé Nast Traveler, Vogue.com, BonAppetit.com, Washingtonian magazine, and other media outlets.
Find out more about Ann at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
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