The Champagne Letters
A Novel
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of bubbly wine and Kristin Harmel, this historical fiction novel follows Mme. Clicquot as she builds her legacy, and the modern divorcée who looks to her letters for inspiration.
Reims, France, 1805: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot has just lost her beloved husband but is determined to pursue their dream of creating the premier champagne house in France, now named for her new identity as a widow: Veuve Clicquot. With the Russians poised to invade, competitors fighting for her customers, and the Napoleonic court politics complicating matters she must set herself apart quickly and permanently if she, and her business, are to survive.
In present day Chicago, broken from her divorce, Natalie Taylor runs away to Paris. In a book stall by the Seine, Natalie finds a collection of the Widow Clicquot’s published letters and uses them as inspiration to step out of her comfort zone and create a new, empowered life for herself. But when her Parisian escape takes a shocking and unexpected turn, she’s forced to make a choice. Should she accept her losses and return home, or fight for the future she’s only dreamed about? What would the widow do?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
MacIntosh debuts with a fizzy story of an unmoored woman who finds solace in a cache of historical letters. When Natalie Taylor's 20-year marriage ends in divorce, she isn't sure how to move on. Casting about for a new beginning, she flies from Chicago to Paris, where she buys a collection of letters written by Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, who inherited her husband's champagne business in early 19th-century Reims, to her great-granddaughter, Anne. Barbe-Nicole's description of her struggles and resilience as a woman business owner provides Natalie with a path forward. She meets handsome wine merchant Gabriel and puts together a chic French wardrobe with help from her hotel's concierge. MacIntosh alternates Barbe-Nicole's accounts of life in Napoleonic Reims with Natalie's fast-moving romance with Gabriel, which is complicated by Natalie's discovery that he's not the highly successful wine merchant he purported to be. The author also cleverly draws parallels between Barbe-Nicole and Natalie as they cope with the loss of their husbands and their similar feelings of isolation when facing life's difficulties without input from their spouses. This feel-good story hits all the right notes.
