Books » Madame Pommery
Madame Pommery is based on the true story of a heroic mother and widow
A Champagne Widows Novel (published 2023)
"The sun-drenched vineyards of France, a real-life heroine who refuses to give up her dreams ... and champagne ... What's not to love?"
— Barbara Davis, best-selling author of The Echo of Old Books
Champagne, France, 1860
Madame Pommery is an etiquette teacher and orphanage founder who loses her husband and so must support her family. She is a forty-year-old window with no experience, and therefore decides to make champagne.
Her unique vision is to change it from a sweet dessert beverage to a dry, crisp wine to be enjoyed anytime.
Champagne makers refuse to teach her their craft, but she forges ahead on her own. She secretly begins the excavation of champagne caves under the Reims city dump.
The Invasion of France
Soon after, Pommery's son and her entire crew are conscripted to fight in the Franco-Prussian war, so she is left alone to struggle with her champagne dreams.
Napoleon and a hundred thousand French troops are captured. The Prussians invade France, and Prussian General Frederick Franz occupies Mme Pommery's house as his army headquarters.
Despite the challenges, she uses her secret wine caves to hide the Francs-tireurs, resistance fighters for France, and makes plans to build a spectacular castle winery above the caves.
A Proposal of Marriage
A former lover, a Scottish Baron, unexpectedly proposes marriage, so Mme Pommery must now choose between nobility and her passionate quest for fine champagne.
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Based on a true story, MADAME POMMERY is a novel about a heroic mother and widow who fights the Prussians, the social class system, champagne patriarchs and champagne tastes to create a champagne legacy.
- MADAME POMMERY is available at
- Download a Madame Pommery Reader's Guide in PDF format
- Mme Pommery Blog Tour March 21 - April 21, 2023
