September 23, 2024
MacIntosh debuts with a fizzy story of an unmoored woman who finds solace in a cache of historical letters. When Natalie Taylor’s 20-year marriage ends in divorce, she isn’t sure how to move on. Casting about for a new beginning, she flies from Chicago to Paris, where she buys a collection of letters written by Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, who inherited her husband’s champagne business in early 19th-century Reims, to her great-granddaughter, Anne. Barbe-Nicole’s description of her struggles and resilience as a woman business owner provides Natalie with a path forward. She meets handsome wine merchant Gabriel and puts together a chic French wardrobe with help from her hotel’s concierge. MacIntosh alternates Barbe-Nicole’s accounts of life in Napoleonic Reims with Natalie’s fast-moving romance with Gabriel, which is complicated by Natalie’s discovery that he’s not the highly successful wine merchant he purported to be. The author also cleverly draws parallels between Barbe-Nicole and Natalie as they cope with the loss of their husbands and their similar feelings of isolation when facing life’s difficulties without input from their spouses. This feel-good story hits all the right notes. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Word One Literary.
November 1, 2024
Macintosh debuts with a story that alternates between 1805 France and the present. In the 19th century, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot has lost her husband but continues to pursue their dream of creating a premier champagne house. In the present, recently divorced Natalie Turner leaves Chicago for Paris and finds inspiration for a new life after reading the widow Clicquot's published letters. Prepub Alert.
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November 1, 2024
Goaded by the insulting presumptions of her unfaithful ex-husband, Natalie leaves the final details of the sale of their house to him and hops a plane to Paris. Last-minute plans leave her in a posh boutique hotel, with a verbal misstep giving the impression that she's a widow, not divorced. At a bouquiniste along the Seine, she finds a copy of a book with letters in both French and English from the widowed Barbe-Nicole Clicquot (of Veuve Clicquot champagne fame) to her great-granddaughter. Though their lives are not parallel, the widow inspires Natalie to expand her conservative life, accepting the flirtatious companionship of a handsome wine merchant and the friendship of one of the hotel employees. The letters tell the story of a woman defying convention during the Napoleonic era, coping and plotting to ensure the success of her champagne venture. Readers will see danger for Natalie long before she does, but both women succeed in the end. The combination of history and contemporary narrative makes for a compelling read worthy of relationship-fiction collections.
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