Product Description

Everyday magic, he called it, the transformation of base matter into the stuff of dreams - Layman's alchemy. Jay Mackintosh is trapped by memory in the old familiar landscapes of his childhood, more enticing than the present, and to which he longs to return. A bottle of home-brewed wine left to him by a long-vanished friend seems to provide both the key to an old mystery and a doorway into another world. As the unusual properties of the strange brew take effect, Jay escapes to a derelict farmhouse in the French village of Lansquenet, where a ghost from the past waits to confront him, and the reclusive Marise - haunted, lovely and dangerous - hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters. Between them, a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11226 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Joanne Harris weaves spells of "everyday magic" once again in Blackberry Wine. Her previous novel, Chocolat, was a delicious confection, melding together bewitchment and romance in a chocolatier, in the sleepy French village of Lansquenet. This time around six bottles of home-made brew are the catalyst for her "layman's alchemy." The story is even told by a Fleurie 1962: "A pert, garrulous wine, cheery and a little brash, with a pungent taste of blackcurrant!"

Jay Mackintosh, once a literary star, is stalled. He spends his time writing second rate science fiction, leading a hollow media life and drinking: "Not to forget, but to remember, to open up the past and find himself there again." Nice, expensive wines don't do the trick, it's the six "Specials", a gift from Joe, an old friend, that are the magical elixir. Just like Proust's lime blossom tea, they give him the gift of his memories but also unlock his future; Jay escapes the rut of his London life and buys a house in Lansquenet.

As Jay settles in, he contemplates his childhood friendship with Joe, who made the Specials and whose idiosyncratic outlook on life was the inspiration for his only successful book. Jay becomes involved in village life, meeting up with some familiar characters from Chocolat. Caro and Toinette, the snooty troublemakers, make an appearance and Josephine, the bar owner and battered wife of the earlier novel, becomes a real friend. But it is a new character, the enigmatic Marise that becomes the real focus of his attention. It's the lure of her story that really changes his life, re-ignites the flare of his work.

The book is hugely enjoyable. Joanne Harris' Lansquenet is fast becoming a fairy tale destination, where daydreams become enchantingly possible. Joanne Harris's prose in Blackberry Wine adds to the spell. It's warm and heady, an intoxicating read. --Eithne Farry

From the Back Cover
Jay Mackintosh is trapped by memory in the old familiar landscape of his childhood, more enticing than the present, and to which he longs to return. A bottle of home-brewed wine left to him by a long-vanished friend seems to provide both the key to an old mystery and a doorway into another world. As the unusual properties of the strange brew takes effect, Jay escapes to a derelict farmhouse in the French village of Lansquenet, where a ghost from the past waits to confront him, and the reclusive Marise - haunted, lovely and dangerous - hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters. Between them, a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic?

About the Author
Joanne Harris
Joanne Harris is the author of the international bestsellers CHOCOLAT (also a major film starring Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Lena Olin and Johnny Depp), BLACKBERRY WINE, FIVE QUARTERS OF THE ORANGE, COASTLINERS, and, with Fran Warde, THE FRENCH KITCHEN: A COOKBOOK. She lives in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, with her husband and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Blackberry wine-a nostalgic ,cheeky little number!
I have read and re-read this book ,thoroughly enjoying it afresh each time. Don't be put off by the unusual beginning with bottles of wine seemingly talking to one another. Read on. The story starts with a struggling author,Jay Macintosh trying to recapture his early literary success. There are many flashbacks to his lonely childhood and his friendship with Jackapple Joe,a fantastic character. Jackapple Joe is an elderly ex-miner,dedicated to his garden and his specials and full of mystical, homespun wisdom. Jay feels driven to leave everything behind to live in France where Joe's influence and alchemy is still potent and where he helps Jay resolve his struggle.
A lovely book, told with great skill and poignancy. I suppose it's a modern day "Cider with Rosie" but so much better than that. Delightful!

Back to Chocolat
I'm totally fascinated. Blackberry Wine is yeat an other wonderful Joanne Harris-book. I love them. This time it is writer Jay Makintosh who has to make up with his past involving the betrayal of an old friend. Harris keeps writing about the same themes in book after book. But that's really nothing negative. It's great. There definitely is a great bit of nostalgia over her books.

Besides haunting pasts one of her themes is small villages and the speciall kind of societys they make. Everybody knows everybody and that's very bad when you are excluded, but when yua are included it's really great. An interesting thing about Backberry Wine is that it is set in the sam small village, Lansquenet, where Harris' most famous book Chocolat is set. We do actually meet the same characters again, and only the main charcters are different. So as always, Harris is a master of describing "the French idyl". This time, however, a importatnt part of the book is set in England. Maybe England and France aren't so differnt after all. Well...

As for the symbolism. Harris is a master of that also. Blackberry wine reveals secrets. There's a gret deal of magic over it, just like over the chocolate in Chocolat. Blackberry wine is something mysterious, but this time not dangerous like the oranges in Five Qarters of an Orange. It rather stands for safety and comfort, being what Jay has left of his old friend Joe.

Delicious!
An absolute gem of a book! At least as good as "Chocolat", which is one of my all time favourites.