Showing results for "Wine" in Literature & Fiction

The first of the dead is wealthy Belle Dumont, who vanished from her home in the Minnesota woods only hours before she was to reveal startling news to her three grown children. The kids and Belle's lover deny any knowledge of this mysterious bombshell, but amateur sleuth Jane Lawless, Belle's old friend, suspects these charming folk of being less than forthright. In fact, Jane suspects coldhearted murder....

Late summer, 1270. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs over the land. In the small priory of Tyndal, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief.

Menedemos, the young dashing sea captain, and his helper, the scholarly Sostratos, are sea-traders from the Greek island of Rhodes. Fearless sailors, they will travel any distance to make a profit or to search for rich treasures. While they trade in fineries such as wine and silk (and even, to the chagrin of many, peacocks), they live in dangerous times with pirates, thieves, and barbarians.

Emma Chavet and her father are winemakers who stubbornly cling to the old ways. But when an unwelcome offer comes to buy their business, they must face the new realities of a Green society. This story was originally published in the Audie Award-winning METAtropolis: Cascadia.

Twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding knows Green Town, Illinois, is as vast and deep as the whole world that lies beyond. It is a pair of new tennis shoes, the first harvest of dandelions for Grandfather's renowned intoxicant, the distant clang of the trolley bell on a hazy afternoon. But as young Douglas is about to discover, summer can be more than the repetition of established rituals that hold time at bay.

The new vicar had never wanted a picture-postcard parish - or a huge and haunted vicarage. Nor had she wanted to walk into a dispute over a controversial play about a 17th-century clergyman accused of witchcraft...a story that certain long-established families would rather remained obscure. But this is Ledwardine, steeped in cider and secrets...a paradise of cobbled streets and timber-framed houses. And also - as Merrily Watkins and her teenage daughter, Jane, discover - a village where horrific murder is a tradition that spans centuries.

Step into the enchanting world of Mr. Westons Good Wine, a captivating 1927 novel that transports you to an unforgettable evening in 1923. The story unfolds in the idyllic village of Folly Down, Dorset, where Mr. Weston—a seemingly ordinary wine merchant, yet bearing the essence of the divine—meets a cast of intriguing characters. As their lives and backgrounds are revealed, time momentarily stands still, allowing each individual to confront their inherent qualities of good and evil and discover their ultimate destinies. With Mr. Westons enigmatic companion Michael, a nod to the Archangel,...

I've always dreamed of a fairytale romance, but the first time around, I kiss a troll, running straight into Grizz. He's the first man I feel free with, but we don't get to ride off into the sunset. Betrayed by the man I was supposed to marry, mourning a child I'll never hold, and marked by a brutal escape—I carry the scars of a life shattered beyond recognition. I beg Grizz to release me, but he refuses to let go, making me reconsider my picture of love. Maybe my prince charming does wear leather.

Against the backdrop of early twentieth-century Colombia, where the Catholic Church exercises total control over women, Orange Wine weaves an unforgettable story of sisterhood, love, passion, and betrayal.

Matchmaker Cassandra Collins is no match for murder. Trixie Pristine, owner of Read Wine Bookstore, heads to a 4-day Women in Business Conference hosted by Cassandra Collins, motivational speaker and the owner of a matchmaker service. When the conference starts off with Cassandra dropping dead on stage, Trixie is ready to find out what happened to the seemingly healthy marriage broker. Good thing she’s met Presley Thurman and Tillie Moore at the conference. She knows she can count on these new friends to help her investigate. Can the three friends solve the crime and learn how to win in ...

Wren and Thessaly collide when they land coveted jobs at a glamorous New York City boutique wine importer. Hardworking, by-the-book Wren comes from a modest background and has everything to prove, while Thessaly hails from a family of prestigious California growers—but she is plagued by self-doubt. Thrown together at work, where they’re expected to have exquisite palates, endless tolerance for alcohol and socializing, and the ability to sell, sell, sell, they regard each other with suspicion.

Alexias, a young Athenian of good family, grows up just as the Peloponnesian War is drawing to a close. The adult world he enters is one in which the power and influence of his class have been undermined by the forces of war, and more and more Alexias finds himself drawn to the controversial teachings of Sokrates.

A warm-hearted rural romance set among the scenic vineyards of the Margaret River from bestselling author Tricia Stringer, the authentic voice of Australian storytelling. Reserved high school teacher Keely Mitchell is more than ready for her holiday on the west coast of Australia, so when a...

Christmas feels like a real gift for Lucy this year. Her cosy coastal cottage is starting to feel like home, her new pizza business is getting the locals ‘All Fired Up’, and she can’t wait to spend it with her new flame Jack, the charismatic owner of the Cocktail Campervan. Winding along the snow-dusted Northumberland coast for a whirlwind of Christmas markets and celebrations, Lucy and Jack can’t resist stealing a few kisses under the mistletoe. But there’s a twist in their romantic tale when Lucy’s ex turns up in the village.

As they struggle to survive in a barbarous fantasy land, a mother and daughter attempt to shake off the bonds of female slavery and escape to freedom.

1918: A First World War battlefield becomes the cosmic battleground for two vampires, as Karl von Wultendorf struggles to free himself from his domineering maker, Kristian. 1923: Charlotte Neville watches as her father, a Cambridge professor, fills Parkland Hall with guests for her sister Madeleine's 18th birthday party. Among them is his handsome new research assistant Karl - the man Madeleine has instantly decided will be her husband. Charlotte, shy and retiring, is happy to devote her life to her father and her dull fiance Henry - until she sees Karl....

Here is a brilliant recounting of the life of Odysseus after his safe return to the island of Ithaca, his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. Countless readers and listeners have thrilled to the adventures of Odysseus in The Iliad and The Odyssey, but what further adventures awaited him after his ten years of war and ten years of wandering? Narrated by Telemachus to the bard Phemios, On Wine-Dark Seas speaks of the human drama of a man gone twenty years from home and family, a man who saw Troy on the night of its destruction, a man who lives the special quest which is his destiny.

Mr. Weston is a mysterious character - a wealthy man who has a reputation for selling a special kind of wine that has a unique and almost magical quality. The wine seems to bring out the hidden desires and darker sides of those who consume it, leading them to act in mysterious ways. Exploring ideas of greed, temptation, and the corrupting influence of power, Mr. Weston's Good Wine is a darkly comedic novel which critiques the fragility of human consciousness and explores the consequences of giving into our most base temptations.

Fresh out of a failed marriage, Grace doubts she'll ever trust again. But Sabre is determined to claim her—along with her unborn baby—as his own.

Viv, Janet and Zelda know all about facing the wobbly first year of becoming a widow as their friendship was forged when they ran away from the same dreary support group. Forming instead the much more lively widows' wine club – The Muscateers – they welcome new member Libby with open arms. Libby feels lost without Jim, her husband of more than thirty years, but the warmth, friendship and fun the women wrap her up in inspires her to begin to look to the future.