The Vineyard: A Novel - Hardcover

Delinsky, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684864843 ISBN 13: 9780684864846

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2000

Synopsis

Natalie Seebring, aging and recently widowed, forms a bond with Olivia Jones, a writer and single mother who has been invited to spend the summer at Seebring's vineyard to help her write her memoirs

About this title

Review

Like a glass of good pinot noir, Barbara Delinsky's The Vineyard is best enjoyed slowly. The Vineyard follows the triumphs and tragedies of the Seebrings, a wealthy family of vintners in Rhode Island. The story begins when recently widowed, 76-year-old Natalie Seebring announces her scandalous engagement to none other than the vineyard manager, Carl, whose social standing is, needless to say, several notches beneath the Seebrings'. Natalie's children, Susanne and Greg, are furious with their mother for marrying the help, and only six months after their father's death.

Besides her remarriage, Natalie is working on a family history project, one she hopes will explain all the love and loss she has endured before reaching happiness at long last. She recruits Olivia Jones to help with the project, and Olivia and her daughter Tess move out to the vineyard for the summer. Tension builds with the summer heat as the wedding approaches. To make matters worse, Carl's son Simon, the new vineyard manager, is coldly resentful of Olivia and Tess, who remind him of the wife and daughter he has lost. But amidst all this, Natalie Seebring's long-buried past is slowly revealed, and like a summer storm, the truth blows through the vineyard, leaving everything different in its wake.

Barbara Delinsky says she was influenced by Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation in writing The Vineyard, and Natalie Seebring is a fine tribute to the strong, silent Americans who made so many sacrifices during World War II. Keep a hankie close by when reading this one. Family tragedy, unlikely romance, and old wrongs finally made right will have you laughing and crying. --Francine McBride

About the Author

Barbara Delinsky has published more than sixty-six novels since the 1980s, including, most recently, Lake News, Coast Road, Three Wishes, A Woman's Place, For My Daughters, and More Than Friends. Published in twenty-five languages worldwide, her books regularly appear on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Publishers Weekly. Delinsky is a lifelong New Englander. She and her husband have three sons. Readers can write her c/o P. O. Box 812894, Wellesley, Massachusetts 02482-0026, or visit her Web site: www.barbaradelinsky.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0684864843
• ISBN 13: 9780684864846
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368