Reims, France, 1805: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot has just lost her beloved husband, but is determined to realize her dream and create France’s leading champagne house, now named after her new identity as a widow: Veuve Clicquot. The Russians are about to invade, competitors are fighting for their customers, and Napoleonic court politics are making things difficult. She must quickly and permanently differentiate herself from the competition if she and her business are to survive.

In modern-day Chicago, shattered by her divorce, Natalie Taylor flees to Paris. In a bookstall on the Seine, Natalie finds a collection of published letters by the widow Clicquot and uses them as inspiration to step out of her comfort zone and build a new, self-determined life for herself. But when her escape to Paris takes a shocking and unexpected turn, she is forced to make a decision. Should she accept her losses and return home, or fight for the future she has only dreamed of? What would the widow do? (By Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster)

Kate MacIntosh is a writer and teacher based in Vancouver. The Champagne Letters is her first novel.