if there’s a historical fiction set during WWII that focused on a female protagonist, i’m going to read it and i’m going to enjoy it! this follows a split timeline, one during WWII and one in the 90s, and focuses on two women and how they are connected by a bottle of wine stolen by nazis. it’s a story where you know more than the main characters, so you’re waiting for them to catch up and realize how things are connected. it’s a beautiful story and i absolutely loved the characters. especially charlotte (in the 90s) who is a smart, successful pilot that made intelligent decisions which i always appreciate! definitely recommend for any fans of historical fiction or anyone that’s been wanting to try reading historical fiction, it’s a great starting point!

thanks to netgalley and harper perennial for my advance copy of the french winemaker’s daughter by loretta ellsworth. all opinions are my own.

The French Winemaker's Daughter is a dual-time line from 1942 and 1990. This follows the life of Martine Viner an 8 year-old who separated from her father when he's hauled off by the Germans. She escapes and ends up on the steps of an old Hotel--then found by a young nun and taken to an Abbey where she is hidden throughout the rest of the war. Never to return to the vineyard of her youth. And forced to leave the bottle of wine behind given by her father with a promise to "never give it up".

In 1990 we follow Charlotte. A rare female captain of commercial airlines who flies internationally regularly to Paris. Her favorite city. Her journey in the story starts when she's gifted an old "worthless" bottle of wine by a boyfriend as he tells her goodbye. Realizing she got left by the jerk, she examines this worthless bottle she was given by him--discovering a hidden label under the main label. It's written in French which she doesn't understand well enough to translate--after taking it in for translation, she finds it's a note from a father to his daughter dated 1942. And thus begins her adventure to find out more about the daughter of this father and what happened to her.

Martine and Charlotte's stories are part of a beautiful web of serendipity.

Clean? No. It's got some sex.
Language? it's got some swearing.
Violence? No.

The premise was good--but it matched other stories I've read with similar types of plots. It wasn't really unique. I've read so many WW2 books, I'm looking for unique stories or stories that suck me in.

This one was okay. Not great. Not terrible. Just average.

3 STars

*Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC. All opinions are 100% my own. :)

Thanks to Harper Paperback & Negalley for the ARC copy in exchange for a honest review.

In 1942, Martine has to hide in an armoire when the Nazis storm her family’s vineyard to take her father away. Her father pins an address to her coat and gives her a bottle of wine to keep safe. Afterwards, she drops the bottle of wine, never to see it again. Neighbors take her to the train station so she can join her aunt in Paris - however, the aunt is nowhere to be found. With nowhere to go, Martine wanders the city, eventually falling asleep at Hotel Drouot, where Sister Ada finds her and takes her to the abbey, and watches over her.

In 1990, Charlotte attends an auction where a rare Nazi taken bottle of wine is put up for sale. Henri, Charlotte’s boyfriend gives her the bottle of wine, unbeknownst to him that it’s a valuable bottle of wine. While cleaning the label, she finds a hidden label, which leads Charlotte down a rabbit hole of finding out the mystery behind the bottle of wine.

Absolutely devoured this book. I couldn’t put it down - the twists and turns kept me guessing along the way. Loved the historical part a lot - Martine, Ada and Andre’s stories tugged my heart. Charlotte, at times seemed whiny and childish, and I found myself skimming her sections, just wanting to get back to the historical parts. If you’re looking for a bit of a different historical fiction, I’d recommend this one. I enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars.

I enjoyed this dual timeline WWII novel quite a bit. The story combines the tale of Martine, a young French Jewish girl fleeing her family's winery after her father was taken by the Nazis with Charlotte's story of grappling with sexism, relationships, and family issues as she navigates life as a female commercial pilot in 1990.

The stories combine, as this genre of books typically do, in a bit of a predictable narrative. The two women's stories combine through a bottle of wine that Martine's father saved as her inheritance. I liked both women's stories - Martine's ability to survive despite the odds and the very real threat of persecution during the Holocaust, as well as Charlotte's unique story of succeeding as a woman in a male-dominated industry and navigating the difficulties of love and family alongside that. I will say that in many ways this book was more women's fiction/romance lite rather than a true World War II historical fiction novel, but the story was well written and accurate to the best of my ability to tell. It was easy to keep track of the characters and I found most of them very likable.

It was a good book to get me out of a bit of a reading slump, and I would read more by this author.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

I love any book that has a dual Pov in different timelines. This book historical fiction was written with grace and respect for the historical aspects. It was mid provoking, and sad, and beautiful. A great, and fast read for me.

If you enjoy World War Two historical fiction you will want to grab The French Winemaker's Daughter. This a dual timeline story sharing the suvival of a little Jewish girl during the war and Charlotte searching for information on a bottle of wine where she discovered a hidden note, a note to a child.

Experience the challenges of an eight year old girl, Martine, trying to reach Paris all on her own after her father was taken from his vineyard. He gave her her legacy. She has to flee in fear after hearing the Germans. She accidentally leaves it behind as she ran. She would never forget leaving it behind. Experience the coldness she experiences instead of the compassion she needed. I did a happy dance when she was found by the right person. Martine's life gets very interesting. I couldn't wait to see how her life would be going forward.

Charlotte's search for the owner of the wine takes the reader through wineries in 1990. Her conversations with villagers illustrate how things have changed and how some things have remained the same. I was left thinking about the justice of land and homes that were confiscated during the war. This story is a reminder that many of those that survived the war refuse to talk about the war. Those of us in the present time need to learn as much as we can by reading and asking those that were there to tell their stories.

Another entry in the new sub-genre of Holocaust romance. Not as offensive as most of them and the author at least attempts to get the Jewish parts right, which impressed me. This time we have two parallel stories. Martine is a small Jewish child forced to flee from her home and the family vineyards as the Nazis take over; the town. Before the Nazis snatch him, her father hands her a special bottle of wine and tells her to guard it; it is her legacy. Of course she is a small child on the run so she loses it. She eventually finds herself in the care of an order of nuns, one of whom is secretly a Jewish resistance fighter. The other track takes place in Paris in the 1990s, where Charlotte, a commercial pilot, receives a bottle of wine as a gift from her boyfriend, a faithless Frenchman she soon dumps. She realizes the bottle is something special and begins researching the winemaker, which leads her to a better romance. No spoilers here, but the final outcome is pretty predictable long before the end of the book. The characters are pleasant but not complex. The writing is smooth, and the book offers a couple of hours of escapism while avoiding any graphic horror of the Holocaust. It is foremost a romance, after all. Mine main quibble is the writer never ties of the thread about Charlotte's grandfather -- an unsuccessful winemaker who was traumatized by his experience fighting in France in WW2. This thread is never really tied off and it doesn't add anything to the story. I would have advised the author to cut it out completely if she wasn't going to finish it off.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. The story starts when Martine is a little & it is about all the turmoil that she lived when her father was taken by the Nazi’s.

Loved this book! It had me hooked from start to finish. I enjoyed the characters, the setting, the push and pull. All of it… couldn’t put it down!

Historical fiction at its best. The French Winemaker's Daughter combined mystery and history to create this amazing story of an old, hidden bottle of wine and the search for the girl who lost it.

When Martine was 7, the Nazi's invaded her family vineyard. She managed to hide with the help of her father in an armoire with an address in Paris pinned to her dress and a bottle of wine. When she was able to, Martine ran to the neighbor's house, but lose the wine in the process. Her neighbors send her to Paris. She roams the streets, an orphan, until she if found by a nun and raised at the abbey.
Fast forward 50 years, Charlotte comes across this bottle of wine in a wine auction from the German occupation. Her boyfriend, Henri, gives her an unassuming, inferior bottle of wine from their winnings. While cleaning up her bottle of wine, Charlotte discovered a false label on the bottle. This bottle sends her on a journey into the past filled with sadness, hope, and love.

I absolutely loved this book. It is a beautiful story weaving the past and present together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for this ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Paris, 1990, where Charlotte attends an auction with her boyfriend to watch him bid on a box of valuable wine bottles. When he successfully wins the box he takes the valuable bottles and gives her one he deems to be worthless. Jump back to 1942 where Martine, a small girl whose father owns a vineyard, is forced to run for her life when the Germans come and take her father away. In her haste to get away she drops the precious bottle of wine her father has given her, never to see it again. This book of historical fiction weaves the two women's stories while showing the cost of both the Holocaust and the cost of all the art and property seized by the Nazis during the French occupation.

A dual timeline, which I like.

1942, Burgundy, the French countryside. Seven-year old Martine, hides in an armoire with her bunny, Arabella [who plays a key role], and a bottle of wine. Her father, a vintner, instructs her to hold on to the bottle as it is her heritage and to stay in the armoire "until it is safe." Her father is taken away by the Nazis, and when she exits the armoire, she cannot find their vineyard caretaker, Damien. Martine is left to her own resources [at 7 years old!] to make her way to Paris to her aunt's--whose address is pinned to her dress. She ultimately ends up in an abbey, where Sister Ada [and the other nuns] takes her under her wing and instructs her in Christianity so as to hide her being Jewish. She meets Gabriel, a young boy/neighbor on another vineyard, who becomes her great friend,

1990, Paris. Charlotte, a US-based commercial airline pilot [with many flight to Paris], whose grandfather is a vintner, and whose father also is a pilot. Charlotte attends a wine auction with her boyfriend Henri; he gives her a "seemingly inferior bottle" [of wine], found inside the box of wine he has successfully bid on. The wine was saved from the German occupation [which bothers her conscience]. Charlotte soon discovers that this bottle is quite valuable--the label at auction was pasted over another label [a far more valuable bottle of wine]--setting her on a quest that takes her back to the 40s. Addendum/another plot line--Charlotte would like to buy her grandfather's vineyard; her father wants to sell it.

Family, war, friendships. the resistance, sexism.

Charlotte and Henri break up. Charlotte meets Julien and his mother, Elisabeth. Although Julien is a lawyer, he leaves to law to help his mother with her vineyard. Charlotte is a conflicted career woman who also wants a loving relationship; this takes up a lot of space in her narrative.

Martine and Charlotte intersect in the all too obvious way [for me]. Martine's story was FAR MORE INTERESTING; I didn't really care for Charlotte; I found her quite whiny.

An easy enough, simplistic read, but far too predictable and the "mush" [though thankfully not prevalent] was offputting. I correctly guessed every trajectory and the neat and tidy ending this novel would take [huge detraction].

A bottle of wine worth $125,000?

What could make it so valuable and where did it come from?

Present Day - Charlotte and her friend bought a case of wine that was from WWII at the famous auction house, Hotel Drouot.

They took it home and drank two of the bottles, but one looked too interesting to drink.

Charlotte's curiosity was piqued when she found out its value from an appraiser and especially because of a note under the label that said "this is my daughter's inheritance - keep her safe until I can find her."

She had to find out why it was worth so much and what that note meant.

France, WWII - We meet Martine whose father was taken by the Germans and had hidden her with that bottle of wine and the note.

We follow both characters in this lovely, but heartbreaking read as the story unravels during both time periods.

You will love both characters and their stories.

You won’t be able to put the book down. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

The French Winemaker's Daughter is a beautifully written story set in dual timelines of the 1940s and the 1990s. In the 1940s, we follow Martine, who lives with her father on their vineyard. Her life takes an unexpected turn when her father is captured by German soldiers and she has to flee her home. We meet Charlotte in the 1990s timeline, who is a pilot during a time when it was not common for women to hold this kind of job. Her work takes her to Paris frequently, and this is where the lives of Martine and Charlotte cross paths.

I was completely absorbed by the historical fiction aspect of this book. It is always so heart-wrenching to read about the atrocities that took place during WWII, and I enjoyed this take on how it affected the winemakers of France, during this time. Ellsworth had me rooting for Martine throughout the entire story. She had to endure so much heartache at such a young age, but I loved how her character grew throughout the story.

Charlotte's character occasionally made bad decisions, which seemed to be a little uncharacteristic for her age and for the pride she put into her job. Even with some character flaws, I still enjoyed her part in the story. And I loved that Ellsworth set Charlotte's timeline in the 1990s, since I was a young adult in the 90s. The reference to Cindy Crawford hair, was one that I really enjoyed!

I really loved the way the two timelines intersected. Ellsworth does a fantastic job of bringing the two storylines full circle. The transitions between the timelines worked really well, since she dedicated alternating chapters to each character.

I highly recommend The French Winemaker's Daughter if you are a fan of historical fiction, dual timelines, found family and having hope when things are at their worst.

3.5 stars, rounded up. As a fan of WWII historical fiction, I was looking forward to reading this book. It is a dual timeline book. In the earlier timeframe, it tells the story of young Martine, a French Jewish girl, and “Sister” Ada, the nun who rescues her during WWII. In the later timeframe, set in the early 1990’s, an American pilot, Charlotte, living in France, discovers a rare wine bottle that ties the two stories together. Sometimes, I feel dual timelines work amazingly well. Others, not so much. This one fell in the middle of the two. I didn’t love the story of Charlotte, and felt a large piece of that story was entirely too coincidental. I wanted more of Martine and Ada’s story and would have been content if the book only included that piece. I liked both of their characters and the storyline surrounding their relationship. Both had dealt with loss and you could feel that the two understood each other. However, if the book had been devoted to telling only Martine and Ada’s story, there would have been more time to develop things and I think I would have enjoyed it more than I did. That’s being said, the book was good overall. The shorter chapters made it easy to read (one of those “just one more chapter” things!), the basic concept of the book was interesting (though also sad), and it ended well (just felt a bit rushed wrapping up the early timeline).
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

What a captivating tale that keeps moving and keeps the reader engaged and intrigued. You are immediately immersed into Martine's world in occupied France. The powerful, sharp writing allows you to travel alongside her as she tries to survive alone, as a 7-year-old old Jewish child. You can feel the confusion, the fear, and the questions that arise in her childlike mind.

Similarly, you are immediately immersed in Charlotte's world with Henri in romantic Paris. One can quickly see how Charlotte's story will intertwine with Martine's throughout the book. At times, I find Charlotte's character frustrating - lacking in awareness and lacking in depth or complexity. She's a bit of a trope of the independent, successful woman who doesn't want to let her guard down. Even still, I appreciate how the story unwinds, and I recognize the part she must play in it. Specifically, I do appreciate her struggle with the question of who is responsible for returning things that were seized by the Nazis during their occupation of Europe. The book does a fantastic job of grappling with an intense question, and it begs the reader to consider that from a variety of perspectives, too.

Martine's humanity is beautifully portrayed - the intensity of the emotion, the desperation of the human experience during World War II, and a reality that is far from being neatly wrapped up and easily digestible. At times, it's raw, honest, and real.

The end, perhaps, is wrapped up far too quickly and far too neatly. Of course we find the intersection of Martine and Charlotte. Of course we see Charlotte become more open. Perhaps what's unexpected is what happens with the wine bottle that we learn about within the first few pages. I appreciated that twist. While the backdrop of Burgundy is secondary to book, I did appreciate the setting and it made me want to learn a lot more about the region and its experiences during the occupation and how it has grappled with the same questions that must surely arise.

This was hands down the best book I've read this year. The story takes place in two timelines, with two main characters.

Martine is a young Jewish girl, a wine maker's daughter, trying to survive WWII.

Charlotte is a thirty something pilot, a wine maker's granddaughter, wanting a bit more out of her already accomplished life.

The stories are woven together through the wine in more ways than one.

This is historical fiction at its finest, with a fresh plot and lovable, deep characters. I always struggle with finding a book for my book club that will appeal to the eclectic tastes of its members, while giving us all something to talk about and leaving us feeling good about what we just read.

I can't wait for this book to be published so that I can name it as my next choice for my book club.

4.5 stars from me.
This book grabbed my interest immediately. I enjoy dual-perspective and dual-timeline books, and this one is no exception. It was easy to follow and dovetailed well. Even though it was a bit obvious about half way through how it was going to turn out, it was still interesting how the author got it all the way there.
Charlotte’s actions weren’t always what I would have expected from a confident pilot, but she was still a likeanle character and worth rooting for all the way through the book. Of course, I loved little Martine and her spunk and strength. The reading level is low enough for a younger person to enjoy, but I would have preferred a bit more maturity in the writing—unless this is, in fact, aimed at a YA audience. Still, I enjoyed this novel and plan to recommend it to my book reading friends. I will also read more books from this author.

I truly fell head over heels for this book pretty quickly!

I love WWII historical fiction novels, but sometimes find myself feeling like I'm reading the same thing over and over -- from the same perspectives and centered in the towns/countries that most commonly are written about. I loved that though this book is set during WWII, it's not your "average" story.

The character arc of Martine is beautiful and all encompassing. I also loved the introduction of the "present" timeline and Charlotte's character/connection with Martine. I thought Charlotte's persistence and integrity in figuring out where the wine bottle originated from and trying to reconnect it to it's owner was admirable and gave an added sense of adventure to the story.

Perhaps one of my favorite quotes from any WWII HF book I've read:
"You don't care that I'm Jewish?" "No. it's good, because now I know you're not a Nazi."

The power in this sentiment and scene is both absolutely incredible and heartbreaking to think of conceptually. Especially coming from two small children who should never have had to have known such blind hatred at such an early age.

This was a fresh take and new perspective into part of WWII that was very true. Though I understand entirely that this is a work of historical fiction, like most, this story has a lot of factual detail I knew little about. I truly believe this novel sheds light into an art world that is so commonly forgotten about or perhaps, not even known.

I will absolutely recommend this book to anyone that enjoys HF WWII based books, as well as those that are beginning to dip their little toe into the pond of HF. I think this is a great gateway book into the genre that's not overly gory or atrocious in the details, but that still is able to make you understand the atrocities that were taking place during this time.

"Don't confuse accomplishment with joy. You need both to survive."

4.5⭐️ really wasn’t expecting to cry at work from this book, but here we are. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers for the Arc in exchange for my honest review. This book was so moving and told such a beautiful story
Intertwining the present and the past, and I loved every second of it. As a avid history fan I knew I was gonna enjoy this book after reading the description and I’m so happy I got a chance to read it before it came out! If you love Historical Fiction you should read this!