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List Price: $13.00Price: $11.29 You Save: $1.71 (13%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Label: BLACK SWAN
Manufacturer: BLACK SWAN
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: May 01, 2001
Publisher: BLACK SWAN
Sales Rank: 1161646
Studio: BLACK SWAN
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Joanne Harris's first novel, Chocolat, was set in the sleepy French village of Lansquenet, where enchantment, romance, and soft-centered truths issued from the local confectioner's shop. She returns to the same location for Blackberry Wine. But as the title suggests, she's shifted her focus from food to drink, choosing a half-dozen bottles of homemade plonk as the catalyst for her "layman's alchemy." And even the narrator is no human being but a faintly tannic Fleurie 1962: "A pert, garrulous wine, cheery and little brash, with a pungent taste of blackcurrant!"
There are, of course, some less vinous characters in the novel. Harris's protagonist, Jay Mackintosh, is a former literary star, now sadly 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." Yet the nice, expensive wines don't do the trick. Instead, six "Specials"--a gift from his old friend Joe--function as Jay's magical elixir. Like Proust's lime-blossom tisane, they give him the gift of his memories but also unlock his future, which encourages him to flee the rut of his London life and buy a house in Lansquenet.
As Jay settles in, he contemplates his childhood friendship with Joe, whose idiosyncratic outlook was the inspiration for his only successful book. Meanwhile, he becomes involved in village life, encountering some familiar faces from Chocolat. Caro and Toinette, the snooty troublemakers, soon put in an appearance, and Josephine, the bar owner and battered wife of the earlier novel, becomes a real friend. But it's a new character, the enigmatic Marise, who becomes the focus of Jay's attention--and who helps to restore his literary joie de vivre. This feat of resurrection makes for a hugely enjoyable read. It also goes one step further in adding Lansquenet to the map of imaginary destinations, where daydreams can come true with intoxicating frequency. --Eithne Farry
Book Description:
From the author of Chocolat, an intoxicating fairy tale of alchemy and love where wine is the magic elixir.
Jay Mackintosh is a 37-year-old has-been writer from London. Fourteen years have passed since his first novel, Jackapple Joe, won the Prix Goncourt. His only happiness comes from dreaming about the golden summers of his boyhood that he spent in the company of an eccentric vintner who was the inspiration of Jay's debut novel, but who one day mysteriously vanished. Under the strange effects of a bottle of Joe's '75 Special, Jay decides to purchase a derelict yet promising château in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. There, a ghost from his past waits to confront him, and his new neighbour, the reclusive Marise - haunted, lovely and dangerous - hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters. Between them, there seems to be a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic?
Joanne Harris's last novel, Chocolat, was both a dazzling literary success and a commercial triumph. Chocolat, the major motion picture directed by Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules), is scheduled for release in December 2000 and stars Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Dame Judy Dench, Alfred Molina, and Lena Olin.
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
excellent!--- if you liked 'chocolat' its more of the magic--in fact some of the characters and events from 'chocolat' are mentioned in 'blackberry wine'
Rating:  -
I have mixed feelings about Blackberry Wine, unfortunately more negative than positive. For the first ten chapters I despised this book: I didn't care about the characters, couldn't care about the plot and wanted nothing more than to just get through the thing so I could move on to another story. Even though the chapters are short, fifty-seven pages is more than I want to wait for a story to get interesting.
Blackberry Wine describes the life of Jay, a one-hit-wonder in the literary ... Read More
Rating: -
Beautifully written, this book left me wanting more. I was sad when the book came to the end. I had grown fond of the characters (excluding Kerry, who I found utterly irritating) and wanted to know what came next. I could feel the main characters disappointment, his fears and loneliness. I enjoyed how the book balanced between the main characters childhood and adulthood, 1975 to 1999. It was wonderful to see the character develop throughout the story. And of course, there was Joe, the most colorful ... Read More
Rating:  -
My second Joanne Harris novel and I have to say that she sure does have a unique and special style all her own. I liked this book but can't really recommend it as a must-read. What I enjoyed most about the book was that Jay was a writer. I liked learning about his writing process and daily writing habits. The parts about the little girl having a goat as an indoor house pet were a little far-fetched and I didn't really get the whole bit about the bad wines always rattling around in the cellar and their ... Read More
Rating:  -
Half-English, half-French writer Joanne Harris is best known for writing the best-selling novel CHOCOLAT, which is a decadent treat, but her follow-up novel BLACKBERRY WINE is even more magical and showcases the love of land and gardens of both heritages. Reclusive writer Jay Mackintosh is stuck in adolescence until he invokes the memories of an elderly gardener and astral traveler who helped him out in his youth and strikes out for a ramshackle French country farm. It helps to have a bit of high school ... Read More
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