One of the very best WWII novels I have ever read!

A heartwarming, at times heart-wrenching, story of a young Jewish girl who escapes from the Nazis and is sheltered in a Catholic convent by a member of the French Resistance posing as a nun.

In a simultaneously woven but separate plot, told from the perspective of a modern female pilot struggling in a male-dominated world, a young woman acquires a rare and extremely valuable bottle of wine with a false label and intriguing note hidden underneath.

Determined to discover the identity of the father who wrote the concealed note, claiming the bottle would provide for his daughter, the pilot--who frequently flies to Paris--slowly unravels the mystery as the intricately developed plot unfolds.

A truly spectacular read!

This was a very good book. The author described just enough for me to picture what was happening. It was the perfect amount of details in the story! It had an excellent ending. There was betrayal, loss and several love stories with the characters.

This book was ok, but I’ve read a ton of wwii back and forth in time perspectives that seem the same, and it was easy to figure out Elisabeth was really Martine early on, so it robbed the story of an emotional punch.

“The French Winemaker’s Daughter” by Loretta Ellsworth was an amazing book. As soon as I started reading, I wanted to stay up to see how the story ended. I have read a few historical fictions, but this story had me from the start. The story begins during WWII with Martine a young Jewish girl who must hide from the Germans in an armoire as her father is dragged from their vineyard. Then the story flashes forward to 1990 when an American airline pilot, Charlotte attends an auction in Paris where a friend buys several bottles on wine. Charlotte uncovers that one of the bottles is valuable and she wants to learn more about the specific vineyard and family that owned it during the war. This was a powerful story about family and love. I definitely recommend this read. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial as I really enjoyed this book.

I quite enjoyed this novel set in Paris and the vineyards in France. The plot alternated between a young girl, Martine, and her life during WW2, and a more current day setting (1990) for Charlotte, a pilot who sets out to learn the story behind a valuable bottle of wine and of a young girl during the late years of WW2. While the storyline was a bit predictable, I found Martine's story to be more captivating and would enjoy knowing more of her story.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I always learn so much when I read historical fiction. I find myself Googling events and places and people. Our story begins in the 1940's with a French Jewish winemaker and his daughter at a time when Jews were being rounded up. The father is taken away, but not before he hides his daughter in an armoire with a note pinned to her and a bottle of wine that he tells her to ensure she keeps with her to secure her future. We also have a woman in the early 1990's. She is a pilot who's grandfather pwned a vineyard and she spends a lot of her time in Paris as it is her favorite place to be. It was fascinating to see how this story unfolds and how their lives intersect.

A cleverly written story…. about a young girl hidden by the nuns in France during the Nazi invasion and an American pilot looking for the rightful owner of a bottle of wine. Interwoven is the story of French resistance, life in the abbey, and in orphanages in France from 1942 until the liberation of Paris. A love connection makes the story more interesting. Title characters are real. A quick and interesting read.

Enjoyable read even though a predictable story line. Descriptions of the WWII Natzi invasion and occupation in France were interestingly represented. Martine’s life and how she was saved was memorable and heartfelt. Charlotte was an annoying character to me. Full of herself as a woman pilot with many struggles to prove herself in predominately a “male’s” occupation. Julien’ was quite forgiving of Charlotte’s accusations, in my opinion. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks-Harper Paperbacks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. #TheFrenchWinemaker’sDaughter.#NetGalley.

“The French Winemaker’s Daughter” by Loretta Ellsworth was one of those novels I found myself thinking about throughout the day and longing to get back to reading.

The story opens with Martine, a seven year old French Jewish girl who lives on a vineyard with her father during World War II. When the Germans come to take him away, Martine is hidden away in an armoire. Her journey throughout the book completely captivated me and really left me in suspense between chapters.

The dual POV was set in 1990 and told from the perspective of Charlotte, an airplane captain who goes with her beau to a wine auction where he bids on a crate of wine. Unbeknownst to him, the bottle of wine he gifts Charlotte is actually worth a significant amount of money— and more.

Martine’s story was so well done and I found myself anxiously waiting to get to her chapters. Charlotte’s perspective propelled the story forward, but her storyline did read a bit redundantly. I know that it was 1990 and it was uncommon for women to work in male-dominated fields, but hearing that she was the only female pilot and that her biological clock was ticking began to feel a bit like a broken record. I would have liked an epilogue to see how things wrapped up in the future.

I would still give this book five stars in spite of Charlotte’s occasional whinging because it was a great story, and very important in a time where too many people doubt that the Holocaust even happened. It comes out in December 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the advanced reader copy.

This is a dual time and narrative story set in WWII and 1990. Seven year old Jew, Martine is placed in an armoire by her father to hide from the Germans. He leaves her a bottle of wine from their vineyard and tells her not to come out until it’s safe. As she runs from the Germans to escape to Paris to her Aunt’s home, she drops the bottle and leaves it behind. She is found in Paris.by a nun and taken to the abbey to be nursed back to health and to live as a Catholic.
In 1990, Charlotte, a pilot, goes to an auction and ends up with a bottle of wine given to her by a boyfriend, she discovers there is a fake label and when she removes it, she discovers a handwritten note from a father to his daughter.
Charlotte begins to research and find the family the bottle belongs to. It takes her to lots of country wineries and she meets some new people along the way that help her to realize that family and history can bring serendipity to one’s life.

I liked this book, but wish it had been longer. It was a fast read. I wish there had been some more background about Martine’s father, Sister Ada and Andre. They were mostly peripheral characters and I would have liked to know more about them. The book was also quite predictable. It didn’t take long to figure out how it was all going to work out. The WWII genre is so over saturated, that it really takes something different and special to make a lasting impression.
Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC for my honest review.

This is a riveting and emotional story that intertwines a connection between two women from different times and ultimately even different countries. The historical aspect of this book was very interesting and gave unique information than that of your typical world war ll book. However, it was quite predictable early on about how the women’s stories would end up connecting, but not in a bad way. Overall, it was well written with only a couple parts that I felt didn’t go with the storyline.

I dove into this story head first by reading 50% of it the first night. A wonderful historical novel of a young Jewish girl whose father hides her during the German invasion of France in WWII with a note attached to a valuable bottle of wine. This bottle is presumably her inheritance due to its value but she loses it during her sole escape. The premise revolves around how the bottle comes into the possession of an American woman pilot in the 1990's and her mission to learn the history of the bottle and its rightful owner. The novel tugs on all your emotions as we follow Charlotte's quest, her loves, and her disappointments until she finally connects to Martine. And in that journey she finds love.
My rating is actually a 4.5 only because I found the ending a bit predicable but I would whole heartedly recommend this read.

What a great read! The books is a real page turner that reels you in right from the start.
What I liked about it:
- the Dual POV across different time periods was really well done. (This might be just me, but I thought it was really neat how one POV time period / person was written in third person, and the other was written in first person - just making the diction even more clear)
- the story itself : historical world war 2 fiction books are some of my favorites and but what I really enjoyed was the perspective of this particular region during the middle/end of the war.
- the descriptions of scenery and people weren’t drawn out, but rather effective and efficient. I felt drawn to both characters equally (usually I feel drawn to one more than the other )
- the story moves from beginning to end, there wasn’t a scene or chapter that didn’t add value (no fluff chapters)
- the serendipity of it all! The hotel, the “twist” (which is really quite obvious and I didn’t mind it one bit)

What I didn’t love:
- Charlotte has a scene with her boyfriend where she flies off the handle. I liked her up until this point a lot. Essentially it feels like her insecurities get over blown in that moment and she even goes as far as to call him irrational. That part bothered me.
- I’d like an epilogue set in the future, there was a couple of lose ends.

Overall such a great read and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Historical Non Fiction.

Thank you NetGalley and to the Publisher Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for an advance copy of this wonderful book!

The French Winemaker’s Daughter by Loretta Ellsworth
The French Winemaker’s Daughter by Loretta Ellsworth is an emotionally charged WW II story of two women whose lives intersect across time periods. Martine is a seven-year-old Jewish girl that lives with her dad, a local winemaker. In 1942 the Germans invade their village. Quickly her father instructs her to hide in an armoire in their home. Her father pins her aunt’s address to her dress and hands her a bottle of wine to care for in case her father goes missing. Fearing for her life, Martine hides until dark. When she emerges from the armoire, she discovers that her father is gone. With the help of a kind neighbor, Marine is transported to a train station and arrives in Paris to search for her aunt. Now it is 1990 and Charlotte an airplane captain, attends an auction with her boyfriend Henri at the Hotel Drouot, an old auction house in Paris, France. Henri bids and wins the auctioning of a box of wine confiscated during the German occupation of France during WW II. Henri gives Charlotte two bottles of wine that were of little value. Charlotte discovers writing under the label of one of the bottles. Thus begins her quest to uncover the mystery behind this bottle of wine. It is a beautiful yet heart wrenching story of how the lives of these two women cross paths through the barriers of time. It is a timeless tale of the value of family, friendship, and survival against all odds.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read. But I really enjoyed all of it. The writing and the storyline was very well thought out.

The French Daughter’s Winemaker combined my favorite historical fiction elements: dual timeline, WW2, and strong women. Charlotte, a badass American pilot, goes on a journey to find not only the owner of a rare bottle of wine, but also her voice and strength as a career woman in a patriarchal society. Martine, a Jewish child who had everything stolen from her, struggles to survive, and uses the grape growing and wine making knowledge her father passed on her in order to thrive.

The two stories intertwine to weave a complex, but sweet, narrative. I did find that the writing of the book was a bit simplistic at times, but overall, it was well researched and well constructed. I will be recommending this book to others.

*** note to author: in chapter 20, you mention that Charlotte’s friend calls her outfit her “Spice Girls outfit,” but the Spice Girls were not formed until 1994, several years after the book takes place. ***

This was a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I enjoyed this book. The length was a little short for my liking. The concept of a female pilot in the 1990’s as a protagonist excited me. However, in the very saturated market of WW2 novels, it takes a lot to stick out. I honestly think that this book could’ve been fleshed out a little bit more. I liked the writing and still found the book to be a quick read and entertaining.

This novel is split into two timelines – WW2 and 1980 in France with the connection being wine, particularly one special bottle.

Martine is a 7 year old Jewish girl being raised by her father on a vineyard in rural France. While the Germans start taking over the area they live in, her father makes her hide with 2 things, her precious stuffed rabbit and a special bottle of wine. If something happens to him, she is to take herself and the bottle to her aunt’s in Paris. While Martine is running away after everything has happened at their vineyard, the bottle unfortunately goes missing. After days of struggling she finally makes it to Paris where she discovers that her aunt is missing. Still in fear for her life, she keeps running but she is exhausted so collapses by a hotel. Luckily for her Sister Ada finds her and takes her to a convent she is living at. Now will both of them being able to survive the war? Or will the secrets be found out and they end up in concentration camps.

Charlotte in an airline pilot in 1990 for a major airline, she has the perfect route going to Europe frequently so has an apartment in Paris and a boyfriend named Henri. One night she goes to a special wine auction with Henri and he wins the bid on some wine bottles from WW2 that had been in a German soldier’s collection. One bottle in the collection means nothing to him so he gives it to Charlotte. That one bottle has a mystery behind the label and Charlotte starts her quest to find the answers.

In the past few years lots of books have come out about WW2, some of which have had a split timeline. This is one of those books. I was intrigued by it because it was one of the few that occurred in France but I will admit I was a bit disappointed. In a short period of time you can honestly tell where this is going for the ending. There was a surprise or two in there, but it was pretty easy to figure out. What Martine had to live through was amazing and it was thought through well, but Charlotte wasn’t the character she could truly be. A female airline pilot in the 1990 wasn’t actually that common so there could have been something about that in there. All in all though it was a good book and clean.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for an ARC of this book.

A split-narrative historical fiction taking place in WWII and the 1990s in Paris and the surrounding wine country. This is a really satisfying read and the split narratives end up tying together nicely. It’s a cozy historical fiction (some sad WWII elements, but mostly behind the scenes) with a happy ending, and I recommend this one!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book is historical fiction which is the perfect genre for me. I loved the two POVs and timelines alternating between Martine and Charlotte. The story is such a beautiful tragedy centering around WW2 and the Nazi takeover.
Charlotte, however; comes off very unlikeable. The constant emphasis on her being a FEMALE PILOT was overdone. Her immediately kicking out her roommate seemed very irrational. And her flying off the handle at Julien when he thought (rightly so) the photo was of his mom. She did not treat Julien well and I have no idea what he saw in her.