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.
GUEST POST:
My
interest in European history, WW2 and my love for French wine and summer
vacations in south-west France form the backbone to the birth of this book.
While enjoying an August vacation several years ago in Villefranche, which is
not far from Bordeaux, I found a very old book about the history of German
occupation of France’s premier wine regions: Champagne, Burgundy and Bordeaux.
Many high ranking Nazis loved their French wines and gave orders for plundering
the very best of France’s national treasure back to Berlin. They sent special
weinführers to each region to oversee the steady supply of wine and to keep the
local producers in line. There was a great deal of collaboration, illicit
dealing as well as covert and dangerous support for the French resistance
amongst the wine producers. I devoured the book with intense interest, came
home and managed to find a copy of the book because I knew immediately that the
theme of German occupation of Bordeaux told from the wine makers perspective
would make for a superb novel. There is always a great deal of planning,
research and thought that precedes any writing for me, so it probably took
another couple of years before I was ready and finished with other projects.
The result is Sweet Bergamasque, told from the perspective of a relatively
humble wine grower outside St Emilion, Jean-Marc, who happens to be Jewish (as
many of the French wine growers were) and therefore has to hide from the
occupying Germans. I wanted conflict so I created diverse and strong-willed
characters amongst the resistance group who would clash instantly with the
humble wine grower. Typically amongst the French, there is a lot of jealousy -
between Jean-Marc and his more successful neighbor, between members of the
resistance and Jean-Marc for his romance with Monique. There had of course to
be romance and Monique is not quite what she seems, which ultimately is her
downfall, but she and Jean-Marc are like-minded in their goals against the
Germans and inevitably fall in love. Tragedy is never far away with war and
romance as intertwined themes.
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.