Champagne Widows
Champagne Widows: First Woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot by Rebecca Rosenberg
Historical Fiction, 325 pages
Published August 17, 2021 by Lion Heart Publishing
Champagne, France, 1800. Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell) from her great-grandfather, a renowned champagne maker. She is determined to use Le Nez to make great champagne, but the Napoleon Code prohibits women from owning a business. When she learns her childhood sweetheart, François Clicquot, wants to start a winery, she marries him despite his mental illness.
Soon, her husband’s tragic death forces her to become Veuve (Widow) Clicquot and grapple with a domineering partner, the complexities of making champagne, and six Napoleon wars, which cripple her ability to sell champagne. When she falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.
In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot defies Napoleon himself, risking prison and even death.
My thoughts about Champagne Widows ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"Reims, Champagne. France, 1797. Grand-mère sways over the edge of the stone stairs into the cavern, and I step between her and eternity, dizzy from the bloody tang of her head bandage."
I am confident when I start one of Rebecca's stories that I will be learning a whole lot about a subject that I know very little about. This time I embraced the history of champagne, France, Napoleon, and the Veuve Clicquot. What an interesting journey.
This is a story of hard times and a hard life but it's so beautifully written that it was such a pleasure to read. What a strong woman Barbe-Nicole was and what amazing things she did with her winery. I loved my escape to her world and the world of beautiful France. Like I said, I learned so much while also enjoying an amazing story.
Honestly, you need to read Champagne Widows and enjoy a little trip to France like I did.
I received a copy of Champagne Widows from the author and this is my honest opinion.
About the author
Rebecca Rosenberg is a triple-gold award-winning author of Champagne Widows, lavender farmer, champagne geek, champagne tour guide, and cocktail creator for Breathless Wines. She is the moderator of Breathless Bubbles & Books and American Historical Novels.
Rebecca writes novels about history’s real-life women of substance who made an indelible mark on the world. Her latest novel begins a series about the true champagne widows, the first of whom was Veuve Clicquot. (Vueve is French for widow.)
Rebecca is a University of Colorado alumni and holds a Stanford University novel-writing certificate. Her novels have garnered many awards including IBPA, IPPY, and starred Publisher Weekly reviews for her novels, The Secret Life of Mrs. London (Lake Union 2018) and Gold Digger, The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor (Lion Heart 2019). As lavender farmer and founder of the largest lavender products manufacturer in America, Rebecca’s debut book was Lavender Fields of America.
Rebecca has researched Champagne Widows through a decade of trips to the Champagne region of France, consulting with champagne historians and champagne wineries for delicious exploration. ~ Goodreads
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