Review: Madame Pommery by Rebecca Rosenberg
Today, I'm delighted to share my review for Madame Pommery, a fabulously fascinating novel in the Champagne Widows series by award-winning author, Rebecca Rosenberg. If you love a delicious glass of champagne, treat yourself and discover the stories behind it!
Having found the premise of this series really interesting, I'm delighted to have a chance to review one of Rebecca Rosenberg's award-winning novels in her popular Champagne Widows series.
Men do not get away lightly in this story (as there are plenty who are patronising to downright cheating), except young Henry Vasnier, Alexandrine's production manager, and Monsieur Hubinet, who went from modiste in Rheims to her sales manager in London. Then there are the orphans, in particular Damas, a mute-deaf boy who suffers a grave accident in their factory. Lucille is another. Those characters enrich the story, and add a depth to the events surrounding Alexandrine and the growing champagne business.
Blurb:
"A tour-de-force of historical fiction, Madame Pommery is a deeply fascinating work that blends true-to-life details with artfully crafted elements."
~ Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize
Madame Pommery is a story of a woman's indomitable spirit in the face of insurmountable odds. Set in Champagne, France in 1860, Madame Pommery is a forty-year-old widow and etiquette teacher whose husband has passed away. Now she must find a way to support her family. With no experience, she decides to make champagne, but no champagne makers will teach her their craft. Undeterred, Madame Pommery begins to secretly excavate champagne caves under the Reims city dump and faces numerous obstacles to achieve her dream. From the Franco-Prussian war that conscripts her son and crew to the Prussian General Frederick Franz occupying her home, Madame Pommery perseveres. She even must choose between her champagne dreams and a marriage proposal from her former lover, a Scottish Baron. Inspired by a true story, Madame Pommery is a heroic tale of a woman's strength and determination to create a champagne legacy. If you enjoyed the novel Sarah's Key, you will enjoy Madame Pommery.
International Buy Links:
Champagne Widows: The first woman of Champagne, Veuve Cliquot
Madame Pommery, Creator of Brut Champagne
About the Author:
Rebecca is a champagne historian, tour guide, and champagne cocktail expert for Breathless Wines. Other award-winning novels include The Secret Life of Mrs. London and Gold Digger, the Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor.
Connect with Rebecca:
Website
The Champagne Widows Series is currently on blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club. Make sure to check out all the other fabulous posts on tour here!
Madame Pommery
Champagne Widows
Rebecca Rosenberg
Having found the premise of this series really interesting, I'm delighted to have a chance to review one of Rebecca Rosenberg's award-winning novels in her popular Champagne Widows series.
Madame Pommery begins with the wake of the recently deceased Monsieur Pommery. Some 18 years or so older than his wife Jeanne Alexandrine, he left her with a toddler girl – a late arrival – and a son who trains, away from home, to become a lawyer. So Alexandrine finds herself a widow at 40.
She has a nest egg - a chalet in the countryside, but how would she support herself and her small daughter?
What is a widow to do? Get into business, of course. Widows are permitted to manage and run their own businesses, as she reminds everyone!
Her husband's and his partner Greno's company seems to have been on the brink of collapse, she hears shortly after her husband’s funeral. The men had already reduced their wool-trading side – as British wool was cheaper to buy on international markets – and instead focused on selling red wine. The grapes were bought in and bottled in their factory, then sold at profit. But profits were small...
Greedy German banker Reynard Wolfe wants to buy Madame Pommery's share, but she declines. After deciding she wanted to make champagne instead of red wine – which didn't become her – she is the victim of renewed skepticism, not only by her workers, who leave in their droves, but also by Wolfe and even her husband's old partner. Still, determined to have things her way, Alexandrine seeks out the now elderly Veuve Clicquot for advice, and receives valuable snippets of information. One piece of advice in particular stays with her: ’Don't take no for an answer!’
Several years later, at the London Fair, she reconnects with friends from her school days spent in Scotland, and even rekindles an old romance, but it's clear that Alexandrine has no intention of giving up her newfound occupation - or her responsibilities for her team.
Through the years, she faces even more serious challenges to her life and business, but her determination sees her through. How will Madame Pommery succeed in a world ruled by avaricious men? Find out in this scintillating novel!
I loved the subtle change in Alexandrine, from finding herself a widow, unexpectedly, sticking to the Rules of Mourning. Until she doesn't! And we quickly learn that Madame has a mind of her own. She discovers her husband hid many financial secrets from her, and in her rather direct and at times highly opinionated manner (she teaches etiquette to ’fallen' girls who she supports through her charity), Alexandrine is determined to make things work. She doesn't mind mucking in when needed, much to the horror of the genteel (or rather, fake!) members society, and she doesn't accept any nonsense. Through the novel, she changes subtly, gains in confidence, and even faces danger head-on when defending her household. Soon after taking over the company, she learns quickly how to play men's games, and beat them at it. A remarkable lady, brought to life so vividly and colourfully by Ms Rosenberg. Her journey from widowhood to business manager is full of obstacles, and often hampered by her young daughter Louise causing mischief (especially with her black Matagot cat given to them by Veuve Clicquot).
Men do not get away lightly in this story (as there are plenty who are patronising to downright cheating), except young Henry Vasnier, Alexandrine's production manager, and Monsieur Hubinet, who went from modiste in Rheims to her sales manager in London. Then there are the orphans, in particular Damas, a mute-deaf boy who suffers a grave accident in their factory. Lucille is another. Those characters enrich the story, and add a depth to the events surrounding Alexandrine and the growing champagne business.
Louis, her son, is a young man of the times, easily influenced by fellow men. But once he sees Alexandrine's determination, he begins to support her. I didn't like him at first, and he really had to grow into his role.
Madame Pommery is exquisitely researched, with the sumptuous setting of Napoleonic France on full display – as is the abject poverty on the other side of the scale, and I was delighted that Alexandrine mentioned the thousands of people displaced from the centre of Paris to make way for Haussmann's now famous architectural and infrastructural designs. Of course, the Empress was not impressed...
The narrative is at times over-dramatic, but in light of the situation Madame Pommery found herself in, and the pressures and pretensions of society at the time, it suits the setting very well. This story is engrossing, highly engaging, and utterly fascinating.
Pretty much like champagne... Santé!
~~~
Blurb:
"A tour-de-force of historical fiction, Madame Pommery is a deeply fascinating work that blends true-to-life details with artfully crafted elements."
~ Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize
Madame Pommery is a story of a woman's indomitable spirit in the face of insurmountable odds. Set in Champagne, France in 1860, Madame Pommery is a forty-year-old widow and etiquette teacher whose husband has passed away. Now she must find a way to support her family. With no experience, she decides to make champagne, but no champagne makers will teach her their craft. Undeterred, Madame Pommery begins to secretly excavate champagne caves under the Reims city dump and faces numerous obstacles to achieve her dream. From the Franco-Prussian war that conscripts her son and crew to the Prussian General Frederick Franz occupying her home, Madame Pommery perseveres. She even must choose between her champagne dreams and a marriage proposal from her former lover, a Scottish Baron. Inspired by a true story, Madame Pommery is a heroic tale of a woman's strength and determination to create a champagne legacy. If you enjoyed the novel Sarah's Key, you will enjoy Madame Pommery.
International Buy Links:
Champagne Widows: The first woman of Champagne, Veuve Cliquot
Madame Pommery, Creator of Brut Champagne
~~~
About the Author:
Rebecca Rosenberg
Rebecca Rosenberg is an award-winning novelist, champagne geek, and lavender farmer. Rebecca first fell in love with methode champenoise in Sonoma Valley, California. Over decades of delicious research, she has explored the wine cellars of France, Spain, Italy, and California in search of fine champagne. When Rebecca discovered the real-life stories of the Champagne Widows of France, she knew she’d dedicate years to telling the stories of these remarkable women who made champagne the worldwide phenomenon it is today.
Rebecca Rosenberg is an award-winning novelist, champagne geek, and lavender farmer. Rebecca first fell in love with methode champenoise in Sonoma Valley, California. Over decades of delicious research, she has explored the wine cellars of France, Spain, Italy, and California in search of fine champagne. When Rebecca discovered the real-life stories of the Champagne Widows of France, she knew she’d dedicate years to telling the stories of these remarkable women who made champagne the worldwide phenomenon it is today.
Rebecca is a champagne historian, tour guide, and champagne cocktail expert for Breathless Wines. Other award-winning novels include The Secret Life of Mrs. London and Gold Digger, the Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor.
Connect with Rebecca:
Website
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