Bordeaux
A Novel in Four Vintages
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A novel about a wine enthusiast’s descent into addiction, and “the cheerful face that money can put on an unhappy life” (Publishers Weekly).
After dedicating countless hours to building his software company—an effort that yields him a fortune—Wilberforce walks into a London restaurant, alone, and orders an extraordinarily expensive 1982 Cháteau Pétrus. It is quite an experience—so he asks for another bottle.
From the acclaimed author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, this novel traces the journey that leads Wilberforce from the top of the world to hitting rock bottom as he revels in his newfound wealth and more: his taste for the finer things, a love affair, and a variety of friendships, including one with an eccentric and enigmatic wine merchant named Francis Black. At some point along the way, Wilberforce, once an ordinary middle-class child and then a driven, lonely workaholic, convinces himself that he’s finally found the good life. But as his story unspools, he learns that Black’s cellar holds some unpalatable secrets, and that passion comes at a price.
“A heart-wrenching tale . . . A mesmerising page-turner.” —The Mail on Sunday
“Although Wilberforce’s tale carries universal moral significance, wine lovers in particular will find Torday’s descriptive and narrative powers compelling.” —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sophomore novelist Torday (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) meditates on the question of what money can and cannot buy in this subtle, sorrowful tale of a man who has mistaken his alcoholism for happy gluttony. Frances Wilberforce has pulled himself up from nothing; an orphan adopted by a family of middle-class means, he made a mint when he sold his software business. Drinking four bottles of wine a day, sometimes spending thousands of pounds on a single, exquisite bottle, Wilberforce doesn't take long to drink his way through his new fortune. When friends confront him with his problem, he maintains that he does not have an addiction; rather, he has an interest in fine wine. It's a fine distinction, and as the narrative tracks backwards to reveal the events that precipitated Wilberforce's fall the death of his wife, a series of new friendships with a set of dissolute, landed gentry it sharpens its depiction of the cheerful face that money can put on an unhappy life. Torday is a talented writer and manages this sad story deftly, mixing in redeeming doses of humor and empathy.
