The French Winemaker's Daughter is a dual timeline story with the first timeline beginning in 1942 in Nazi-occupied France, telling the story of Martine Ziner, a young Jewish girl who lives with her father at their winery in Burgundy. When her dad is taken by the Nazis, he has her hide in an armoire, pinning her aunt's address in Paris to her clothing and giving her a bottle of wine that she is told is her birthright. Unfortunately, she drops the bottle of wine when running away into the woods near their winery. The second timeline begins in 1990 and tells the story of Charlotte, a female pilot, who is just realizing that the boyfriend she is falling for is just using her. He gives her a bottle of wine that he believes is worthless but she realizes that there is a second label under the first along with a note from a father to his daughter, Martine. Charlotte feels a connection to this father and daughter and sets about to locate Martine, if she is still alive. There is so much going on in this story but no spoilers. This story came to a satisfying end - this is an historical fiction novel that made me want to learn more about the time period and the good people who hid Jews and Jewish children from the Nazis at the risk of their own lives. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed The French Winemaker’s Daughter: A Novel, by author Loretta Ellsworth.
I thank NetGalley ~ and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for giving me the opportunity to to review in exchange for my honest review ~ it’s my first ARC read.

I’m a huge fan of historical fiction and this book takes the drama of the biggest and deadliest of times, charging it with a compelling narrative that leads you to discover a tale of fortitude, familial love, tragedy and survival.

The storyline weaves a tale of romance, ambition, and war set between two time periods: World War II and a 1990s modern day intersecting the lives of two women in two plotlines, across the generations.
The characters unfold in a compelling and intriguing way. The reader gets to know the personalities: their fears, hopes, and dreams, so that you really care about them; are invested in their struggles, and by the time the story is unfurling towards its conclusion, you are rooting for them, and love.
And you don’t want to say goodby to the characters that you’ve come to embrace.

The protagonist, Charlotte, is a commercial airline captain; a strong woman with a pedigree in the two careers that bookend the narrative. Her father is also a successful airline pilot and her grandfather, a WWII veteran with understandably, war demons, owned a vineyard in California that she secretly hopes to purchase.

Charlotte has a flat in Paris as her home base. Contrary to her passion for flying and her strengths as a pilot, she falls for all the wrong men, and seems unsure of herself in the romance department.
When Henri, her French boyfriend that she sees as a potential husband, takes her to the famous French auction house at the Hotel Druout, they end up having a lusty evening of more than wine. Henri gifts her one of the bottles of wine he purchased.
Henri turns out to be the rogue she wished she hadn’t set such a store on, but the wine he gifted her turns out to be a ticket to not only a World War II saga and mystery but also the key to love and happiness.
The past has a way of sneaking up.
Charlotte is driven to find out the story about the now rare, expensive, collectable bottle of wine when she learns the original label on the bottle was hidden; pasted over with another vineyard’s. Her quest to discover the mystery and find the origin of the vineyard and the coveted wine, propels the narrative.

The intersecting story takes place in Burgundy, France during WWII, starring an eight-year old Martine, whose father owns a French vineyard where the grapes are tended with careful pride and the wine is made with love. But the Nazi’s are approaching fast. Her father gives her a bottle of their wine and tells her to hide in the armoire and to safeguard the family’s heritage ~ that it will save her.
While she most regrettably loses the wine bottle on her arduous journey to stay alive, Martine is saved. By a nun, Sister Alda, who is working out of a convent but in truth, is also Jewish and working secretly as part of the French Resistance.

The story alternates between Martine, and her passage from the War to owning a down-on-its-luck vineyard run by her and her son and Charlotte’s journey of sleuthing and finding true love.

The French Winemaker’s Daughter is a kind of mystery, romance, viticulture chronicle that is engaging and sweet to read.
A little too convenient or “tropey” is Charlotte as she relates to men. I wished that Charlotte’s strong feminine authority would have been more reliable when it came to interacting with the men in her life ~ from the somewhat querulous or edgy way she dealt with her boyfriends and the fleeting “differences” with family obligations; along with the sometimes expository telling of her conflicts, mainly about finding her love mate.

But the strong narrative doesn’t disappoint. In the end, you will enjoy The French Winemaker’s Daughter: A Novel for the captivating and intriguing story and its triumphs of the heart. I “heartily” recommend the read!

The novel is slated for release December 10th ~ in time for cozying up to read and gift for the Holidays.

Santé.

4.5⭐️’s! This book is an encapsulating duel timeline historical fiction that left me sobbing on my flight home! One story line follows a female airline pilot in the 1990s, and the other follows the story of a little girl during WWII. Their two stories end up intertwined in the most beautiful way as the novel progresses! I definitely recommend this book for any historical fiction fans - especially if you liked The Book Thief because it gives off similar vibes imo!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
The French Winemaker’s Daughter is a dual timeline World War II historical fiction following a young girl in the 1940's and a woman in the 1990's. We are immediately introduced to Martine Viner, a young girl whose life is about to be turned upside down by the war. Following this, we meet Charlotte, our main character in the 1990's, a female pilot (captain to be precise) with a sticky love life.
To be quite honest, I enjoyed precisely half of this book: the half that is written from Martine's perspective. Charlotte immediately annoyed me, she has a slimy French boyfriend named Henri who, for some reason, is really into collecting old wines all of the sudden. Things get a little dicey when he leaves a wine he buys at an auction with Charlotte as a gift. Thus, the storyline begins.
Shocker, Henri is a cheating little snake and ends up being both married AND cheating on Charlotte with her roommate. I spotted this from a mile away. Now, because of this, Charlotte treats Julien, a man she meets later, horribly. She has this weird thing about being a pilot, that kind of becomes a subplot. She pretty much uses this as an excuse for her bad behavior and claims that there's no way a pilot could have flaws. Okay Charlotte.
On the other side of things, Martine's story is one of tragedy and hope. A little girl separated from her father due to war and antisemitism. I really enjoyed this side of the story because Martine's hopes and fears were valid and resonate with other WWII Historical Fictions that I have read (All the Light We Cannot See to name one). Charlotte's hopes and fears were borne of privilege. I think that if Loretta Ellsworth had stuck with that version of the story OR made the second narrator more likable, this book would've felt a little more impactful to me.
Really, the storyline was cute (minus the whole war thing) and there was a happy ending. I give this 4 stars for Martine and 2 for Charlotte, ending with a 3 overall.

As far as historical fiction goes this is one of the top ones I've read this year. It is educational about wwII while telling the story of the main characters in a way to keep you wanting to learn more.

This work of historical fiction was a great read, In spite of the dual settings-- late WW II and 1990's in France. WW II historical fiction isn't that which I typically read, however this book held my attention., and the character development was amazing. Without giving anything away, I will say I found the ending a bit of a key down.

How far would you go to uncover the history of a mysterious bottle of wine?

In 1942, when Martine’s father is taken away by the Nazi’s when she loses her inheritance he left her, a bottle of wine from their family vineyard. Alone in the world, Martine is rescued by a nun who keeps her Jewish identity hidden while living in a convent in Nazi occupied France.

In 1990 Charlotte, a US commercial airline pilot, is gifted what her boyfriend thinks is a cheap bottle of wine from an auction. Under the label Charlotte discovers a secret. Wanting to help find the true owner of this priceless and rare wine, Charlotte will have to go outside her comfort zone to uncover a history that wasn’t meant to be found.

I really enjoyed this novel! It is a pretty tame novel as far as the hardships of what people went through during World War II, but it covers great themes of found family, some luck, perseverance and self discovery.

While I found about half way through the ending to be fairly predictable, there were some fun twists added in along the way and it made me excited to read more books by Ellsworth! This books comes out December 10, 2024 and I highly recommend this read!

The French Winemaker's Daughter lived up to my expectations for a historical fiction book. Martine was the daughter of a winemaker in Hitler infested France in 1942. He hid her away in an armoire when the Germans came and took him away. He gave her a bottle of wine and a note to keep as her inheritance. When she ran away, she dropped the bottle of wine which she assumed was lost for all time. Sister Ada found her at the Hotel Drouot and brought her to the abbey where she lived. She knew Martine was Jewish and as it turned out, Sister Ada was Jewish as well. She was hiding away in the abbey pretending to be a nun. Andre was her boyfriend and he fought in the French Resistance. Together, they smuggled and protected Jewish children to an orphanage. After the war was over, Ada and Andre married and adopted Martine.

In 1990, Charlotte, who was an American pilot living in Paris, was gifted a rare bottle of French wine by her French boyfriend Henri. She peeled back the label and found a note about the young girl, Martine. She had the wine appraised and found that it was worth $125,000. It turns out, Henri was a scoundrel and had cheated on Charlotte with her friend. He was also married. He learned of the wine's value and set out to get it back from her. She told him that she drank it but he didn't believe her. He broke into her apartment in search of it. He decided to sue her.

Charlotte wanted to learn all she could about Martine, her father and their winery. She found the winery and went there to speak to the new owner. He had a picture of Martine that he gave to her. She did a little investigating and was told that Martine had been killed.

While visiting wineries, she came across one where she met Julien. When she met his mother, Elizabeth, she felt an affinity toward her. There was just something about her that resonated with her. Julien had studied to become an attorney but had returned home to help his mother with the winery. The winery wasn't his first choice, but because it was struggling he felt drawn to help his mother.

Henri's lawsuit went forward and Charlotte had Julien represent her. She had received another bottle of wine from Martine's old winery. In the lawsuit, she agreed to give Henri the bottle of wine back but she traded it for the other bottle. He knew it wasn't the same bottle but there was nothing he could do about it.

So this whole story is about Charlotte's quest for the truth about Martine. And in that search she finds love with Julien.

I felt the author did a fine job developing the characters. They were very believable. The plot bounced back and forth between Martine's and Charlotte's story. There was one secret that was easily uncovered, nevertheless, I found the book endearing. I gave it five stars.

In 1990,Charlotte, an airline pilot who has an apartment in Paris, is given a old bottle of wine by her Parisian boyfriend. When she finds out it’s extremely valuable, she tries to find out it’s true owners. Through her research, she realizes it was probably confiscated by the Nazis in WWII.
She is told about a young Jewish girl, Martine, who lived on a small winery estate, who escaped the Nazis by hiding in a convent. As she searches for Martine, Charlotte begins to recognize her own need for family and belonging. The author successfully creates a story the reader wants to unravel, and characters we really care about.

The French Winemaker’s Daughter by Loretta Ellsworth. Publication date: Dec 10, 2024.

I love historical fiction, especially those taking place during WW2, and this story did not disappoint. I had a hard time putting it down and finished it in two days. I learned something new about that time period that I hadn’t known or read about before. Overall, thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely recommend this book for historical fiction fans.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher, HarperCollins, for sending this ARC for my review consideration. All opinions are my own.

3.75 stars. This was an excellent story, parts felt like it was a little juvenile and written for younger adults. It was pretty predictable but still a great story. Very quick read and pretty captivating. I enjoyed reading it,
I enjoyed Martines story, the ending could be elaborated on more on her end and her emotions / thoughts/ feelings. I would have been interested to learn more of her father’s vineyard and who the current owner purchased the vineyard from. It could have been a little longer so the ending didn’t feel so rushed. Overall great story - it would be an easy 4-4.5 for me if the ending wasn’t rushed and some of the writing elevated.
Thank you net galley for allowing me to read this.

I think this book was so beautiful, and I was very invested in both the main characters. I loved the dual timelines, dual POVs, which made me super interested and kept me engaged the whole book. However, the ending and even how we got there seemed very obvious early on, so I think it did a bit of a disservice to the characters for being so unaware of how it was going to end. But, I think Loretta's writing is beautiful, and the storyline has some unique pieces that made for a great book!

Having read this on the heels of “the underground library”, this novel brought a more current (yet dated in 1990s) perspective to the Nazi invasions and the trickle down familial impacts.

While it’s fair to say that World War II as a time period is heavily leaned-on in the historical fiction genre, this book, with its nod to winemaking, the Vichy French government, and contemporary romance, is really worth the read. Charlotte accompanies her playboy French boyfriend to a wine auction at the historic Hôtel Drouot, and when he leaves her high and dry the next morning, gifts her a seemingly worthless bottle for her troubles. Heartbroken, she starts to scrub at the age-stained label, and peels it away to find the bottle’s true label: a letter from a Jewish vintner to his daughter Martine, outlining her inheritance. She embarks on a quest to unearth the mystery behind this family, and finds herself deep in a story that’s more beautiful and tragic and complicated than she could ever imagine.


I enjoyed this book! The plot was straightforward and it was a nice easy read. The ending felt a little rushed, in that some of the major windfalls were a little coincidental. But overall the two viewpoints between Charlotte and Martine, the seamless mix of contemporary romance and the trials of Nazi-occupied France, and the beautiful imagery of French wine country makes it a great read!


Thank you so much to @netgalley and @harperperennial for the advanced reader copy!!

This beautiful written novel shares the story of a young Jewish girl’s journey during WWII, the losses she experiences and the supports she discovers. It includes the role of vineyards as a source of love and solitude, that can bring people together and sometimes push people apart. The novel also includes the story of an American woman set in the early 90’s, as she discovers more about herself and the past.

I enjoy Historical Fiction and have read many books about WWII and the Holocaust. This one ranked very well compared to others I have read. I enjoyed the unique angle of experiencing a fictional journey set in this tumultuous time, counter balanced with the beauty of vineyards, wine and kindness. It shows how every small decision we make, good or bad, can have a huge impact on those around us.

This is an incredible historical fiction novel about WWII. Martine is a very young Jewish girl who loves her father and his vineyard. When the German soldiers come to take her father away, Martine hides in an armoire with a bottle of wine her father says is her inheritance and her stuffed bunny Annabella. Martine makes her way to Paris to live with her aunt, but by the time she gets there, her aunt is gone. Martine is found by Sister Ada and taken to live in an abbey. She eventually finds a vineyard near the abbey and assists a young boy in caring for the vines. This story is intertwined with a modern day story of a female airline pilot who discovers a bottle of wine with a false label. The label has a note on the back that intrigues the pilot who searches to find out what really happened to Martine and her father.

Interesting premise and well written book. The main character had some relationship/truat issues but don’t we all? Overall, would recommend.

A heart wrenching stories that shows how the future generations also bore the guilt, shame and even triumph of the past generations. I truly enjoyed the characters and the set up this story and how it all tied together. I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you @NetGalley and @HarperPaperback for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.

The French Winemaker's Daughter was a sweet story about love, family, war, and discoveries. This dual timeline book explores the atrocities & discriminations that took place during WWII in Europe. IN the early 1940's, a young girl is forced to leave her home after her father disappears. Traveling alone to Paris, she is saved by a nun and is taken in by the sisters of the order where she safely rides out the war. Years later, Charlotte, an American pilot, attends a wine auction with her boyfriend in Paris and with the purchase of wine, discovers a rare bottle. As Charlotte researches the wine, she experiences betrayal, loss, new love, and discovers herself in the process.

A poignant story that should not be missed!

#TheFrenchWinemakersDaughter #NetGalley #historicalfiction #WWII #womenaviators #wine

If you love historical fiction and romance you’re going to love this story!
This story reminded me of the movie Woman in Gold with Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren. Set in current days recalling the pain and heartache of Nazi thievery.
Told from two different time periods and two peoples POV. It was pain and hope and grief rolled into one!