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, an etiquette teacher and orphanage founder, loses her husband and is forced to support her family. With no experience, the forty-year-old widow 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.
When champagne makers refuse to teach her their craft, she forges ahead on her own and secretly begins the excavation of champagne caves under the Reims city dump.
The Invasion of France
Soon after, Madame Pommery's son and her entire crew are conscripted to fight in the Franco-Prussian war, leaving her alone to struggle with her champagne dreams.
After Napoleon and a hundred thousand French troops are captured, the Prussians invade France, and Prussian General Frederick Franz occupies Madame Pommery's house as his army headquarters.
Undaunted, Pommery uses her secret wine caves to hide the Francs-tireurs, resistance fighters for France, while she plans to build a spectacular castle winery above the caves.
A Proposal of Marriage
When a former lover, a Scottish Baron, unexpectedly proposes marriage, Madame Pommery must choose between nobility and her passionate quest for fine champagne and the most beautiful winery in the world.
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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.
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