Ann Mah weaves a layered, lush, gripping story of family secrets, wartime hardship and terroir in her second novel, The Lost Vintage. As she's cramming (again) for the famously difficult Masters of Wine exam, Kate Elliott returns to her family's vineyard in Burgundy for the first time in years. Helping her cousin's wife clear out the cluttered basement, she stumbles onto a secret room filled with World War II resistance literature and valuable wine. But while she's keen to find out more about her family's history, Kate's efforts meet with opposition from her uncle, who believes the past should stay hidden.
Mah (Mastering the Art of French Eating) tells her story through two engaging narrators. One is Kate, whose deep passion for wine and her family's land is complicated by painful memories associated with the vineyard. The other is Hélène, Kate's great-half aunt, whose teenage diaries written during the war provide clues to the origins of the mysterious room.
As Kate digs deeper into the past, the vineyard's present also marches on, with the harvest season (known as les vendanges) at hand, the unsettling presence of Kate's first love, Jean-Luc, a neighboring winemaker, and the exam looming ever closer. The setting will draw readers in, and the captivating dual narrative and the account of one young woman's bravery are sure to satisfy. Vividly described and full of fascinating (if harrowing) wartime detail, Mah's novel is as rich and complex as the Burgundy whites produced by the vineyard. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams