Product Description

A tantalising new novel from the author of the bestselling Chocolat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6298 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-02
• 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

Synopsis
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?

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?

Customer Reviews

Riveting Tale
Although I have had the majority of Joanne Harris's previous novels on my bookshelves for a number of years, so far I have only read Chocolat, Coastliners and Gentleman and Players. Now having just finished Blackberry Wine I intend to rectify this and catch up by reading the rest as soon as possible. So far she has proved to be for me a riveting storyteller, somehow making the locations and characters leap from the page. Her descriptions of food and wine so good that you feel you can smell and taste them. I finished this with a glass of wine sitting in the garden this evening and felt transported to Lansquenet, which was also the location for Chocolat. I believe also that some characters reappear in The Lollipop Shoes, receiving a copy of this recently as a gift is the inspiration to read the rest of her novels.

In Blackberry Wine the narrator is a bottle of wine `Fleurie 1962' unfolding the tale of Jay Mackintosh as a boy in 1975 and an adult in 1999, when he impulsively buys an old house in Lanssquenet, France.
In two interlinking narratives we learn how the time he spent as a teenager in Kirby Monckton with his friend an old man Joe, has a subconscious effect on his 1999 choices.

Magical!
I have read 'Chocolat', 'Sleep Pale Sister' and 'Gentleman and Players' by Joanne Harris and enjoyed them all. 'Blackberry Wine' definitely did not let the side down. The tale is told by a bottle of very special wine and this alone makes the story intriguing, mysterious and different. A tale of childhood memories and special friendships unfolds and impacts into present day. As with many of the author's books, a little bit of magic makes events take an unexpected turn and the bottles of 'special' wine rattle with excitement in their hiding place.......

Magical and inspring!
Being a Joanne Harris fan I was really looking forward to reading this book, and I am so pleased I did. Being a wine drinker myself it had me wanting to open up a bottle, and I have even started to call mine 'Specials!' LOL.

The book is about friendship between an old man Joe Cox and a teenage boy Jay Mackintosh. How Jay looks up to Joe and he learns about the magic in Joes life, and how Joe lives. Joe is connected to the magic of nature. and this facinates Jay.

Joe loves to make wine, and in later life Jay has some of these 'Specials', as he drinks them memories of the past rise and a journey begins. I won't go on about the story more than I have, as this story truly is magical.

In the book a bottle of wine begins to tell the story, this I felt was a great way to start the book. I have no problem with reading about an inanimate object talking, and I found it to be interesting and original. I have read that it put a small minority of other people off the book, but don't let other peoples opinions sway you. I highly recommend this book.

I could relate to some of the things in this book, with me being someone who respects nature and also believes in magic. Another thing I loved about this book, is some of the charaters from Joanne's book 'Chocolat' are in this book too, as some of this book is set in the French town of Lansquenet.

For me the book was a wonderful read, it tugged at my emotions, and I felt as though I was looking through Jays eyes, feeling his happiness, and his sadness.

A fabulous book to sit down and unwind with, the sort of book you sit down snuggled up on your bed, or by the fire and read.

My Verdict: Magical and inspring!