The Champagne Letters
This dual-timeline novel features two strong, independent heroines. The first is the real-life Barbe-Nicole Clicquot who, after the death of her husband in 1805, decides to run the winery they had built together and to make the best champagne in the world. The Napoleonic Wars and trade barriers present a challenge because they prevent her from selling the wine abroad, so she conceives a daring plan to hire a pirate ship to carry the wine to Russia. Invading troops and the schemes of Napoleon’s court cannot keep her from realizing her dream of being the leading winemaker in France. In the present day, Natalie, an American woman in her fifties who has just gone through a difficult divorce, travels to Paris to start a new life for herself. There, she finds a book of Barbe-Nicole’s letters to her great-granddaughter. Natalie thinks she has found new love with a wine merchant, but when her romance takes a dark turn, she is inspired by Barbe-Nicole’s example to find the courage to become truly independent and follow her dream.
MacIntosh makes us care about both heroines, and the reader roots for Barbe-Nicole to succeed in her business and Natalie to break free of her dependence on her ex-husband and become the person she really desires to be. The book is told in alternating chapters, which leave you wishing to continue with the timeline you are reading but also wanting to know what happens in the other one. I was fascinated by the details MacIntosh offers the reader about winemaking and, in the present-day timeline, wine fraud. She also makes you want to learn more about Barbe-Nicole Clicquot. The wine Barbe-Nicole created, Veuve Clicquot, is still a very famous brand of champagne. The book also makes the reader want to travel to France. Highly recommended.
