Blackberry Wine

Finished Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat. Like Chocolat this novel is laced with magic and mystical happenings. It is told in two times and places, Pog Hill, England, 1977 and Lansquenet sur Tannes, France, 1999. Jay MacIntosh wrote a brilliant first novel fourteen years ago, but has been writing pulpy sci fi ever since. He is jaded and discontented with his life. One day on an impulse he takes his savings and buys a vineyard in France, to live out the dream of Joe, the man who inspired his first novel, but disappeared twenty-two years ago. The story is told from Jay's perspective, as a teenager shipped off to boarding school and his grandparents while his parents go through an ugly divorce (1977), and as a 37 year old trying to rehabilitate a neglected vineyard and his own neglected potential as a writer (1999). A charming book, excellent for vacation reading.