Liv Thierry Kent is recently divorced when her grandmother Edith takes her on a trip to France. Liv thinks they are going to Paris, but Edith has other plans. She takes her granddaughter to Reims where she meets dashing lawyer Julian Cohn. Edith keeps trying to tell Liv about the past and then doesn’t follow through.
The other leading ladies in this book are Inès Chauveau and Céline Laurent, both young women are married to winemakers. Inès’ husband is the owner of a vineyard, and Céline’s husband Theo is his right-hand man. Their storyline is set during World War Two and the German occupiers come to the vineyard demanding bottles of their best champagne.
Michel gets involved with the resistance, and when Inès finds out, she leaves enraged and goes to Reims to her best friend Edith. After this, Inès has an affair with a collaborator, and Michel and Céline have an affair with a resulting pregnancy.
I really enjoyed the book, the twist at the end was a little unexpected. Inès is a very vapid young woman who cares about her appearance more than the life of her friend Céline – who is half Jewish and therefore in danger. It’s not until after things fall apart that she finally joins the good fight for the right reasons.
Read for the ShelfReflection Reading Challenge 2024.
Prompt 28: A book by an author from a different country than you.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
