The Winemaker's Wife

The Winemaker’s Wife is a 2019 historical novel by bestselling American author Kristin Harmel, who is known for her range of World War II-inspired novels. Set in the Champagne region of France, the novel follows the intertwining stories of the inhabitants of the champagne chateau and the secrets they kept during the German occupation. In a parallel narrative, the story jumps to the present day, following a woman named Liv who, after a personal heartbreak, discovers her connections to the chateau and unravels its mysteries.

The Winemaker’s Wife uses the region’s history and culture to examine the war and its effects on everyday people, particularly winemakers and growers. Its main themes include Redemption and Forgiveness, Heritage and Identity, and Loyalty and Betrayal.

This study guide refers to the 2021 paperback edition from Welbeck Fiction.

Content Warning: This novel contains depictions of wartime violence, death by suicide, and sexual assault.

Plot Summary

The novel follows two timelines with alternating chapters, which are told from three characters’ third-person limited points of view. The first timeline takes place in France in 1940 and is alternately narrated by the protagonists Inès and Céline. The second timeline takes place in the novel’s present-day of 2019 and is narrated by the third protagonist Liv, short for Olivia.

Inès Chauveau is one of the point-of-view characters. She is newly married to a prestigious winemaker, Michel Chauveau, and brings him news of the German invasion in France. Inès is young and naïve of the invasion’s implications; this frustrates Michel, who is older and has the responsibility of operating the winery and vineyard during uncertain times. Inès is expected to work in the winery alongside Michel, his head winemaker Theo, and Theo’s wife Céline, who is also skilled in the trade. They discover that Inès has little interest in or aptitude for the work, and this puts emotional distance between Inès and Michel. Céline, who is half Catholic and half Jewish, worries about her Jewish family and the increasing restrictions on Jews. So far, however, because Céline was born in France rather than abroad, she is exempt.

Shortly, German soldiers arrive in Champagne and ransack Michel and Theo’s home, requisitioning champagne, food, furniture, and household valuables. One officer, Captain Richter, shows a particular interest in Céline. Though Michel feigns compliance, he begins looking for ways to undermine the German authorities. Feeling undervalued and isolated in her home, Inès begins spending more time with her best friend Edith, who owns a brasserie with her husband in the nearby city of Reims. However, Edith isn’t able to offer Inès the comfort she needs because she’s becoming increasingly involved in underground resistance efforts. Inès focuses on the household’s day-to-day needs but has no broader political awareness about the war or resistance. Theo shares her perspective, but they are not close friends. This leads Inès to feel even more isolated while Michel and Céline begin to bond.

Meanwhile, Michel is increasing his role in the resistance by storing and moving weapons in the complex tunnel and cave system beneath the winery. Desperate for affection and validation, Inès begins an affair with a man named Antoine, a Frenchman who is collaborating with the German invaders. He explains why Nazi leadership is better for France, and for a time, Inès believes him.

At the same time, feeling misunderstood by their spouses, Michel and Céline have an affair, and Céline becomes pregnant. Captain Richter returns to Maison Chauveau and attempts to sexually assault Céline in the wine caves, but Céline is rescued by Inès, who hits Richter with a wine bottle. Michel kills Richter, and he and Theo hide his body. Luckily, no one comes looking for Richter, but Inès, Michel, Theo, and Céline must all keep this secret. As Inès spends more time with Antoine, she begins to doubt his justifications for the Germans’ actions and vows to become a more loyal wife to Michel.

At one point, Inès and Céline help shelter two Jewish refugees, Samuel and Rachel Cohn, in the wine caves. Meanwhile, Inès discovers Michel and Céline’s affair, which has been going on for almost a year. She goes to Antoine for comfort and, while intoxicated, inadvertently tells him the truth about Richter’s murder. Angry that she broke off their affair, Antoine sexually assaults Inès then tells the authorities about the murder. Meanwhile, Céline has given birth to a son, whom she names David.

Michel and Céline are arrested, and Inès takes David to raise as her own. After being found guilty of murder, Michel is publicly executed, Céline is sent away to Auschwitz, and Inès and Theo—who were not implicated—leave Maison Chauveau. Inès takes David to Antoine’s apartment and threatens him with revealing his sexual assault until he agrees to buy infant supplies. Then she takes David to Edith and tells her what happened. Inès decides to leave David to be raised by Edith and Edouard.

Inès becomes involved with the resistance in an attempt to make up for her past mistakes. When her friend Edith is killed, Inès takes her identity and moves to America, caring for David until she’s brave enough to tell him the truth about his real parents. Over the years, Inès—who now goes by Edith—develops an alcohol use disorder, which she uses to avoid her guilt about the past. David grows up, and she never tells him about his history. He marries and has a daughter, Olivia, but he dies in his thirties, without learning the truth about his past. Inès, whom Olivia knows as Grandma Edith, is very supportive of her granddaughter. She hopes to one day tell Olivia what she failed to tell David.

In the present day, Olivia has recently divorced her husband, Eric, and is looking for a new purpose in life. For years, Olivia tried to conceive through in vitro fertilization, even leaving her successful career as a management executive to focus on starting a family. Meanwhile, Eric was having an affair with his administrative assistant. Olivia’s Grandma Edith arrives and whisks her away to Paris, where she finally plans to share her story.

Along the way, Olivia meets Samuel Cohn’s grandson, Julien, who is Grandma Edith’s lawyer, and becomes close with him. Grandma Edith encourages their attraction, wanting Olivia to find happiness.

Finally, Grandma Edith allows Julien to reveal the truth about who she really is, but she is still overcome by shame and dies by suicide. Olivia inherits Maison Chauveau and shares her story with the press This leads Céline, who has miraculously survived Auschwitz, to return to Champagne and reconnect with her lost granddaughter.