The French House by Helen Fripp

The French House by Helen Fripp

She plucks a perfectly ripe grape, glowing golden in the moonlight. In that moment she knows her life will be full of joy and sorrow: harvest feasts and heartbreak, the thrill of the season's first sip and the bitter threat of betrayal. But if her success could taste this sweet, she would have it no other way.

France, 1805. In the sleepy town of Reims, recently widowed Nicole Clicquot is struggling to run her winemaking business alone. Her rival and owner of the largest vineyard in Champagne, calculating Monsieur Mo t, is sure she'll accept his offer of marriage. But one look at her little daughter running happily through the vines that could one day be hers, and Nicole knows she could never share her late husband's legacy. Taking courage from the chalk soil beneath her boots, and the heat of the soft French sun, Nicole vows to save the vineyard herself by making the best champagne the world has ever tasted.

But toiling over the harvest day and night and the constant disapproval of her gossiping neighbours take their toll on Nicole. Only her husband's oldest friend, Louis, believes she can do this alone. One magical night, as a shooting star illuminates their way under a velvet sky, Nicole gazes up at his warm smile and wonders if, with Louis by her side, her champagne would taste even finer. because isn't the best wine made with love?

Then Mo t, still bitter over Nicole's rejection, discovers her secret method of making crystal-clear champagne, and the House of Clicquot could lose everything. Did Louis betray her trust, and was she wrong to open her heart again? And with Napoleon's wars looming on the horizon, can she save her vineyards, and her daughter, from ruin?

Fans of Chocolat, Carnegie's Maid, Dinah Jeffries and anyone longing to sip champagne under the stars will adore this stunning historical read, inspired by the true story of how Nicole Clicquot blazed her own path to build the world's greatest champagne house: Veuve Clicquot.