The Winemaker's Wife

Kristin Harmel is an American author best known for her historical fiction. As of 2023, she has published five novels that take place in France during the years of World War II (WWII): The Sweetness of Forgetting (2012), The Room on Rue Amélie 2018), The Book of Lost Names (2020), The Paris Daughter (2023), and The Winemaker’s Wife (2019). All told from the perspective of brave and complex women, these novels each use a different lens to examine the horrors and heroism of the Second World War. The Sweetness of Forgetting was Harmel’s first WWII novel, which became a bestseller and cemented her name as a contemporary historical fiction writer. It follows an American baker who goes to France to uncover the secrets of her French grandmother’s past. Like The Winemaker’s Wife, this novel uses multigenerational stories and food and drink to tell a story across time. The Room on Rue Amélie tells the story of a newlywed woman who joins the resistance effort and assists Jewish refugees. The Book of Lost Names explores similar themes, connecting the story of a librarian to forged identity documents for fleeing Jewish children. The Paris Daughter takes an interpersonal look at everyday people, and in particular mothers, affected by the horrors of war.