TITLE: Sweet Bergamasque
RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2017
AUTHOR: Quentin Smith
CATEGORIES: Historical/Military/Adventure
PAGE COUNT: 384
ISBN: 978-1544887418
IMPRINT: White Stag
KEYWORDS: War, Wine, Adventure, Romance, Tragedy, France, Historical
ONE LINER:
How the French
kept their best wines from the Germans in WW2: wine maker Jean-Marc joins the
resistance to steal back their national treasure.
SYNOPSIS:
Jean-Marc is
nurturing his first decent Bordeaux vintage in a decade when the German army
invades France in June 1940. His decision not to flee with his wife and
children will haunt him throughout the war, but when he loses his wine farm to
the occupiers and is forced to hide in his neighbour’s cave cellars, the
opportunity to join the maquis and retaliate is irresistible. Amongst his new
comrades is the enigmatic Monique and their journey is one of bravery,
unexpected romance and eventual tragedy, leaving Jean-Marc out for revenge.
A CHARACTER INTERVIEW:
QS:
When did you first start making wine, Jean-Marc?
JM:
I started helping my papa when I was old enough to hold secateurs, maybe five
or six years old. And I never stopped, not until the Germans came.
QS:
That must have been incredibly hard for you.
JM:
Watching my wife and children leave without me was hard, hiding in my cellar
while the Germans drank my wine and wrecked my house was… but when I had to
abandon my farm and hide like a rat in Alphonse’s cellars…Mon Dieu…
QS:
Do you regret not returning to your vineyards after the war?
JM:
(hesitates) What kind of question is that?
QS:
Well, I was just thinking that if you had continued making wine you may not
have ended up where you are now.
JM:
You mean in prison?
QS:
(nods)
JM:
How could I go back to making wine with my family gone, with Monique gone and
the passion, the flame, extinguished inside me?
QS:
It must have been difficult.
JM:
(shrugs and draws on his Gauloise)
QS:
Did you think your wife and children would return?
JM:
(pause) When I heard they had been deported to Germany, to concentration camps,
along with so many others, I knew…
QS:
I’m sorry.
JM:
I never expected to meet someone like Monique, you know. I married Isabelle
when I was 19 and I knew nothing else, I was happy, but Monique… she… (shakes
his head)
QS:
If you hadn’t been a wine maker what would you like to have been?
JM:
(thinks and then smiles) I loved working in the cinema after the war. The magic
of the movies. (eyes sparkle) I loved the American films especially, you know
we were not allowed to show them for six years during the occupation, but I saw
them all afterwards. Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Ingrid Bergman – oo-la-la.
QS:
You used to…
JM:
You know what I really love about American cinema? Popcorn. In France we always
had cheese and bread, never popcorn.
QS:
You enjoyed working with the open air cinema.
JM:
I loved it.
QS:
Do you regret doing what you did?
JM:
(inhaling sharply) Never. They deserved what they got, I know they weren’t
innocent. Monique never deserved what they did to her.
QS:
Do they ever bring you wine in prison?
JM:
(shakes his head)
QS:
Do you miss it?
JM:
Every minute of every day.
(Keys
rattle in the door)
QS:
Good luck Jean-Marc, thank you for talking to me.
JM:
Good luck? You know I am for the guillotine, no?
(Policeman
enters and ushers JM out.)
JM:
Tell Alphonse to take care of Chateau Cardinale for me. Tell him.
QS:
I will.
AUTHOR BIO:
In addition to being an anaesthetist, Quentin Smith has a long-standing
passion for writing. He has published articles and papers in The British
Journal of Anaesthesia, Anaesthesia News, Anaesthesia and Critical Care,
Hospital Medicine, Today’s Anaesthetist, Spark, and Insight.
Following a five year term as editor of Today’s Anaesthetist, he
undertook creative writing study through The Writing School, New College
Durham, The London School of Journalism including a coveted place on the Curtis
Brown Creative fiction course in 2014.
He is the author of three previously published novels: The Secret Anatomy
of Candles (Matador 2012); Huber’s Tattoo (Matador 2014); 16mm of Innocence
(Matador 2015). Huber’s Tattoo was runner-up in The People’s Book Prize 2015
and 16mm of Innocence was a finalist in The People’s Book Prize 2016. His
recent novels reveal his interest in European history and the Second World War
in particular.
EMAIL: quentinsmithbooks@gmail.com
AUTHOR LINKS:
http://www.quentinsmithbooks.com http://www.twitter.com@Quentin Smith
http://www.facebook.com/quentinsmithbooks
PURCHASE HERE:
AMAZON US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073GD6L78 AMAZON UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073GD6L78
AMAZON CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B073GD6L78
BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sweet-bergamasque-quentin-smith/1126712535?ean=9781544887418
CREATESPACE: https://www.createspace.com/7033443
PAPERBACK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1544887418/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499997479&sr=1-1&keywords=sweet+bergamasque
Brought
to you by:
A
reminder to the reader ~ before you leave be sure to take a look at the
Come
back and visit again.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for taking the time to visit and comment. I appreciate your input.