Product Description

Bubbly, rich, delicate and delightful, the champagne of the famous House of Peine is everything that Clementine Peine is not. She lost her sparkle, along with the love of her life many years before, and now she's lost her miserable papa too. Still, at least now the precious House is hers. Or is it? First her wicked sister Mathilde returns, determined to poison the future the same way she poisoned the past. Then, out of the blue, a third sister appears - the enchanting but equally unwelcome young Sophie - claiming their surname and causing ancient family rivalries, long-ago love affairs and forgotten scandals to come bubbling to the surface. The glory days Clementine has dreamed of for so long have never seemed further away. But as her cherished grapes must blossom and blend to reinvent themselves and become something truly magnificent - so must she. Only then can the House of Peine become a House of Joy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78192 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From the Publisher
The story of a French champagne chateau and the three sisters who inherit it

From the Inside Flap
Bubbly, rich, delicate and delightful, the champagne of the famous House of Peine is everything that Clementine Peine is not. She lost her sparkle, along with the love of her life, many years before, and now she's lost her miserable papa too. Still, at least now the precious House is hers. Or is it?

First her wicked sister Mathilde returns, determined to poison the future the same way that she poisoned the past. Then out of the blue, a third sister appears - the enchanting but equally unwelcome young Sophie - claiming their surname, and causing ancient family rivalries, long-ago love affairs and forgotten scandals to come bubbling to the surface.

The glory days Clementine has dreamed of for so long have never seemed further away. But as her cherished grapes must blossom and blend to reinvent themselves and become something truly magnificent - so must she. Only then can the House of Peine become a House of Joy.

From the Back Cover
Bubbly, rich, delicate and delightful, the champagne of the famous House of Peine is everything that Clementine Peine is not. She lost her sparkle, along with the love of her life, many years before. Her papa spent more time at the local bar than tending to the vines, but now that he is gone the future looks bleak. Then her sister Mathilde returns to the crumbling family Chateau, determined to poison the future in the same way that she poisoned the past.

Out of the blue, a third sister appears – the delightful but equally unwelcome young Sophie – claiming their surname, and awakening ancient family rivalries, long-ago love affairs and forgotten scandals.

Can the House of Peine ever become a House of Joy?

Praise for Sarah-Kate Lynch:
‘Warm, witty and mouth-watering’ – Hello!
‘Deliciously readable, scattered with crumbs of magic’ Mail on Sunday
‘You’ll be hooked…a truly original read’ Heat

Customer Reviews

A great and different read
I loved this book. I thought it was funny, clever, sad and just a bit different from the normal chick lit 'fluff'. I thought the characters were excellent and I especially liked Cochon, the dwarf miniature horse named after a pig ! I didn't have any interest in Champagne creation before I read this book, but it is really informative and the use of the odd French word (there is a glossary at the back) really helps to set the scene.
I read this book after reading and enjoying Eating with the Angels and it does for champagne what the previous book did for Italian Food - makes your mouth start to water.

House of Love and Champagne
I detect a theme in Sarah Kate Lynch's novels; food and drink is the background to the actual storyline.

This is the story of three sisters who are thrown together when their father, a renowned champagne maker and grower of grapes dies. Clementine has been with her father all her life and only experienced once what she thought was love and passion. She holds the champagne house together, and knows exactly what to do and how to talk to the grapes to encourage them to grow.

Mathilde her younger sister appears when the reading of the will is held and makes her mark immediately, leaving behind a husband and daughter but still bringing with her all her problems and poisonous attitude to life.

Unexpectedly, a third sister appears, Sophie who has not led anything like the life of her other sisters, suddenly finds herself in the midst of a sibling argument and rivalry but at the same her arrival joins them all together in love and makes them actually appreciate all that they have.

The story of three sisters comes to a head with the harvest of the latest season of grapes and the rivalries between the two older sisters and their past spills out and affects them all and the future.

Their story and how they react with each other is the foreground to the house of champagne. As a reader and complete novice about champagne, this book taught me so much about the process from seed to grape to blending to the final fizz. Do not be put off the French vocabulary as there is a glossary at the back, something I did not realise until the end of the book!

A rather interesting read and one (if I drank) you could read on a summer afternoon with a glass of fizz in your hand. Very light with quite a bit of sparkle and a kick to surprise you and wanting more.