Welcome to the WordCrafter “The French Winemaker’s Daughter” Book Blog Tour

Welcome to the WordCrafter The French Winemaker’s Daughter Book Blog Tour! This historical fiction novel could be classified as women’s fiction, as well, with two strong women in different times connected by a bottle of wine lost during the Nazi invasion, and recovered in current times. I don’t want to give away too much, because I want you to follow the tour to learn more about The French Winemaker’s Daughter.

We have a great tour lined up, with guest posts from the author, so you can get to know a little bit more at each stop. You can follow the tour through the links in the schedule below, but each link will not work until the post for that tour stop goes live, so please wait for the scheduled dates to click on them.

Tour Schedule

Monday: Writing to be Read – Interview with the author

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday: Writing to be Read – Review

About The French Winemaker’s Daughter

Set during World War II, an unforgettable historical novel about love, war, family, and loyalty told in in the voices of two women, generations apart, who find themselves connected by a mysterious and valuable bottle of wine stolen by the Nazis.

1942. Seven-year-old Martine hides in an armoire when the Nazis come to take her father away. Pinned to her dress is a note with her aunt’s address in Paris, and in her arms, a bottle of wine she has been instructed to look after if something happened to her papa. When they are finally gone, the terrified young girl drops the bottle and runs to a neighbor, who puts her on a train to Paris.

But when Martine arrives in the city, her aunt is nowhere to be found. Without a place to go, the girl wanders the streets and eventually falls asleep on the doorstep of Hotel Drouot, where Sister Ada finds her and takes her to the abbey, and watches over her.

1990. Charlotte, a commercial airline pilot, attends an auction with her boyfriend Henri at Hotel Drouot, now the oldest auction house in Paris. Successfully bidding on a box of wine saved from the German occupation during the Second World War, Henri gives Charlotte a seemingly inferior bottle he finds inside the box. Cleaning the label, Charlotte makes a shocking discovery that sends her on a quest to find the origins of this unusual—and very valuable—bottle of wine, a quest that will take her back fifty years into the past. . . .

A powerful tale of love, war, and family, The French Winemaker’s Daughter is an emotionally resonant tale of two women whose fates are intertwined across time. Loretta Ellsworth’s evocative and poignant page-turner will linger in the heart, and make you think about luck, connection, and the meaning of loyalty.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/French-Winemakers-Daughter-Novel-ebook/dp/B0D3CJYP5Y

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Today, we have an interview with author, Loretta Ellsworth, and I’m so excited because The French Winemaker’s Daughter is such a powerful and thought provoking story. So let me tell you about the author, and then we’ll jump right into the interview.

About Loretta Ellsworth

Loretta earned a master’s degree in Writing for Children from Hamline University. She’s the author of four young adult novels: THE SHROUDING WOMAN, a Rebecca Caudill nominee; IN SEARCH OF MOCKINGBIRD, which won the Midwest Bookseller’s Choice Honor Award, was a Teen’s Top Ten finalist, an IRA Notable, and was named to the New York Library’s List of Books for the Teen Age; IN A HEARTBEAT, which was named a spring Midwest Connection’s Pick and an ALA Notable; and UNFORGETTABLE, which was a Kirkus Pick of the Month. Her debut adult novel STARS OVER CLEAR LAKE, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2017. Her debut picture book, Tangle-Knot, will be published by Page Street Kids in 2023.

A former Spanish teacher, she lives with her family in Minnesota. Visit her website at: http://www.lorettaellsworth.com and follow her on twitter @lellsworth.

Interview with Loretta Ellsworth

Kaye: Let’s start by having you tell us a little about your author journey. How did you get to where you’re at today as an author?

Loretta: I started out writing articles for magazines, and was lucky to have a few published.  This encouraged me to try writing longer pieces, and I wrote my first book The Shrouding Woman, a middle-grade novel.  I spent many years revising it as I learned more about the craft of writing, and it was published in 2002.  From there, I wrote three YA novels that were published, one picture book, and an adult historical novel.  Along the way I also earned my Master’s Degree in Writing, and I read extensively.

Kaye: You developed the habit of writing every day from keeping a diary as a young girl. I agree that this is a great habit for an author to have. The words add up if you just keep putting them down. What other skills do you possess that are helpful to you as an author?

Loretta: I’m an avid reader, which helps all writers.  I’m not afraid of revision, and have been known to revise a book ten or more times. And I’m one who doesn’t give up easily.  When I was searching for an agent for my adult novel, I sent over 250 queries before I found representation. 

Kaye: You write for children and teens as well, as adults, and you place a lot of emphasis on your experience as a educator. Do your books for children and teens carry educational messages?

Loretta: I don’t purposely write with a message in mind.  I usually write about relationships, but themes do tend to rise to the surface, ones of hope, grief, guilt, connection, and self-discovery.  Although my main goal is to entertain, I do write from my own heart and passion, and that comes across on the page.  

Kaye: Tell us about your new adult fiction book, The French Winemaker’s Daughter.

Loretta: The French Winemaker’s Daughter is the story of two women who are connected by a rare, and valuable, bottle of wine.  Seven-year-old Martine hides in an armoire when her Jewish father is taken away by the Nazis.  In her arms in a bottle of wine she has been instructed to keep safe.  But she drops it when she hears Germans in her father’s vineyard, and runs away.  In 1990, Charlotte, an American pilot, attends an auction with her boyfriend in Paris, where he bids on a box of wine saved from the German occupation during WW II. He gives Charlotte a seemingly inferior bottle he finds inside the box.  Cleaning the label, Charlotte makes a shocking discovery that sends her on a quest to find the origins of this unusal bottle of wine, a quest that will take her fifty years into the past.

Kaye: What inspired you to write The French Winemaker’s Daughter?

Loretta: My novel Stars Over Clear Lake is set in Iowa during WWII.  The main character’s brother is in France fighting the Nazis while she is at home with her parents and German prisoners of war who are working their farm.  In researching what part of France her brother would be in, I did a lot of reading and ended up going down a rabbit hole that led me to a book called Wine & War.  It details how France undertook daring measures to save their most precious natural resource – wine.  And while reading it I had an image of a Jewish girl hiding with a bottle of wine that is her inheritance, one that she loses.  Of course, I had to finish the other novel before embarking on this idea, but it was one that I kept thinking about for several years.  

Kaye: What was the most interesting fact you turned up in your research for The French Winemaker’s Daughter?

Loretta: One interesting fact that I used in my book is how a Moroccan leather portfolio sold at the auction house Hotel Drouot ended up containing the bill of sale for the Louisiana Purchase.  You never know what valuables you will find there. Another interesting fact is the Club Les Bains, a nightclub that originally began as a bathhouse in the 1870s where Proust visited, and became a mecca of personalities in the 1980s during its heyday.  Still open today, the pool is one of its most fascinating features.

Kaye: This book has not one, but two, strong female protagonists. Was it your intention to market it as women’s historical fiction?

Loretta: Yes, I’d always intended it to be historical fiction, which is what I enjoy reading as well.  But it’s also part mystery and part romance, which brings other elements into the story.

Kaye: Is there a message that you hope for readers to walk away with from reading this book?

Loretta: As Mr. Rogers says, “Always look for the helpers.”  No matter the situation, there  have always been good people who help those in need.  It’s just a matter of finding them.

Kaye: What was the biggest challenge for you when writing The French Winemaker’s Daughter?

Loretta: I had never been to France, so researching it was difficult.  I read as much as I could, but Covid made if hard to visit.  Finally, in 2022, I was able to go to France and visit every location where a scene in my book takes place.  Being able to soak up the atmosphere was priceless.

Kaye: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

Loretta: I enjoyed writing from two different character’s point of view and two different time periods, although it was challenging.  But I found that it stretched my writing self, and I feel more accomplished in doing so.  Also, doing research in France is the best!

Kaye: Where can readers who want to know more about you or about The French Winemaker’s Daughter find you online? (Please include links here.)

www.lorettaellsworth.com

Instagram – Lorettaellsworth_author

Facebook – Loretta Ellsworth Author Page

Bluesky – @lorettaellsworth.bsky.social

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