Customer Reviews

House of Daughters (House of Peine)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the same book as The House of Peine, retitled for the US market. Delightful read. Full of unexpected twists and turns. Although not quite the stop-everything else you're doing, mouth watering tales Lynch created in Blessed Are the Cheesemakers (also titled simply Blessed Are in the UK) and By Bread Alone (those two are not to be missed), this is very very good. Funny, sad, ironic, interesting and completely novel.

House of Daughters is the story of three estranged half-sisters. Clementine, the oldest, lives in a vineyard in France with their curmudgeonly old father, Olivier, and has helped him tend the vines since she was a girl. Clementine hasn't seen her younger sister, Mathilde, since she spent the summer with them years ago and cruelly broke Clementine's heart by pursuing the man she knew Clementine herself was in love with. But when Olivier dies and leaves the vineyard to his daughters, Clementine must share her prized vineyard with her infuriating half-sister. Even worse, it seems that Olivier had another daughter that neither Clementine nor Mathilde were aware of: Sophie. After her mother's death, Sophie was shuffled from foster home to foster home, after which she lived on the streets. The Peine vineyards are Sophie's one chance to find a family and a place to belong.

The only problem is that these sisters resent each other. Though Clementine and Sophie begin to grow closer, Mathilde still holds her sisters at arm's-length. She hides her insecurities under a shell of cruelty and malice, but she can't cower forever. Eventually Clementine and Mathilde's secrets are revealed as the three sisters work together to save the Peine vineyards.

House of Daughters is a repackaging of the popular UK book House of Peine, brought to shelves for the American market. U.S. readers will love the depiction of French vineyards and the details about making champagne. Lynch obviously did extensive research on the history of champagne and how it is made (as she details in the introduction), and it shows. In the book, she goes into exquisite details about champagne and all the processes of its making. For anyone interested in the process but not willing to read a dry nonfiction book, this novel is for you.

The story of the Peine sisters is also appealing. The bond between Clementine and Sophie is sweet and develops into a real sisterly connection. They look out for each other and, slowly, Clementine begins to trust that Sophie will not hurt her. The problem comes with Mathilde. She is so unpleasant that when her predictable turnaround finally comes (much too late in the book), it simply does not matter. The reader is never going to be able to like her despite how nice she acts or how damaged she was from her childhood. It would have been nice if her transformation could have come sooner; that way the character might actually have a chance with the reader. However, real life sometime gets in the way of a reader's pleasure, and it is understandable that a person that damaged would actually act that extreme.

House of Daughters is a cute story that will appeal to anyone who likes chick lit/women's fiction-type books, is interested in the champagne-making process, or enjoys books set in different countries (such as Under the Tuscan Sun).

I purchased this book for a discussion group. The book itself is O.K. and is accurate with the descriptions provided by other reviews; it is definitely a "girly" story. Very little that is not predictable and all ends well.
The thing that bothered me in the Kindle version is that in haste to get the text into Kindle format, whoever did the typing must have had a sticky space bar as every page is rift with run-together words. This became extremely annoying and a distraction that hurt the story. A simple spell check would have solved all this distraction; shame on the publishers. Get your copy in hardback or paperback or at the least request a sample of the book to see if the problem annoys you.

I love all Sarah-Kate Lynch's work and House of Peine (House of Daughters in US) is the best yet. Three sisters inherit the family champagne house and have to learn a lot about themselves and the champagne making business in a hurry. Sexy, funny, sad and touching - this book is pure delight and considerably deeper than it might first appear.

I'm not a literary reviewer by any stretch but I can tell you that this book's story of these sisters and the twists and turns of the family story as it unravels have me wishing to find more like it. The imagery will not leave you.

I enjoyed the story very much, and it held my interest. The description of the wine making was also interesting. My biggest complaint was the writing- there were so many trite phrases, and it didn't flow well. I am not sure what I was expecting, but some of the phrases were really awful. You can pretty much guess the ending, or a portion of it, which was fine, though it does have a few twists thrown in. Overall, just a 3.

This book was a whimsical fiction story about finding family and forgiving the past. It is set in the Champagne region of France in the present day and is told from a variety of perspectives. Sometimes it was confusing as to who was telling the story- the omniscient narrator or the main character- but it didn't really take away from the enjoyment of the story. I learned a lot about the champagne making and tasting process. My book club read it an enjoyed it as a light, uplifting read...and it inspired a great French-themed brunch menu!

If you are a wine lover, and are looking for a nice, easy read, this might be for you. The story is woven across the tapestry of the French countryside in Marne and dances between the life of the vineyard owner and the story of sisters, brought together forceably after the death of their father. While the temperments of the sisters is somewhat akin to witnessing a trainwreck, it does speak of the wounds that lie very deep within those who have not received the tending necessary in the very vines that yeild fruit.

As a person who LOVES wine, I must say this book did not disappoint. The characters were warm and the saga of the sisters was very easy to identify with. I loved the way the author intertwined wine with the lives of the three sisters - I can tell that the author did some extensive research. The vivid description of the french country-side took my breath away and I felt transported to the vineyards. I highly recommend this book to all - not just to winos (like me)!

This is my favorite of the Sarah-Kate Lynch books. It's a beautifully told story and lots of information on how Champagne comes to be.