House of Daughters (Lynch)
Summary | Author | Book Reviews | Discussion Questions
House of Daughters
Sarah-Kate Lynch, 2008
Penguin Group USA
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780452289383
In Brief
With effervescent wit and clear-eyed insight, Sarah-Kate Lynch explores the rivalries and bonds of sisterhood amidst the lush countryside of France's Champagne province. Clementine is the rightful heir to the House of Peine, the vineyard that has been in the family for generations.
She has spent her whole life caring for the vines, not to mention caring for her sour brute of a father. But now that the Peine patriarch is dead, his will stipulates that Clementine must share the vineyard with a half-sister she hasn't seen in twenty years and another she didn't even know existed. As one vineyard brings three estranged siblings together, readers will savor this heartfelt toast to sisterhood and inspired celebration of Champagne. (From the publisher.)
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About the Author
A tireless researcher, Sarah-Kate Lynch trailed the byways of Ireland sampling dairy products for her first novel, Blessed Are the Cheesemakers, and perfected French sourdough bread for her second, By Bread Alone. In the interests of maintaining her artistic integrity regarding House of Daughters, she considers it her duty to drink as much champagne as she can possibly manage. (From the publisher.)
More
Sarah-Kate Lynch is quite a cranky journalist of several decades who prefers making things up to recording them accurately. This is not very good if you are a journalist, which may explain (a) the crankiness and (b) why she now writes novels.
She also writes two columns in the New Zealand Woman's Weekly, New Zealand's best-read magazine. One is about nothing and the other is about books.
Sarah-Kate lives in a cliff top house on the wild west coast of New Zealand's North Island and is currently very glad she has not bothered to amass a fortune thereby saving herself the angst of having it halved.
She is also glad she lives on a cliff top because what with global warming and all, she could be underwater as well as poor.
As it is she lives very happily with a lovely dog called Ginger and a husband called Ted. Oh, hang on, no, that's not right. The dog is called Ted and the husband is Ginger. (From the author's website.)
Extras
From a 2008 interview with her publisher, Penguin Group:
Q: What inspired you to write House of Daughters?
I decided one year, due to being old and getting terrible hangovers from drinking still white wine, that I would only drink champagne for a year because it was too expensive to ever afford much of, thereby only ever theoretically coming in small amounts. This proved to be a slightly flawed idea, as it turns out, because I simply set my research skills to finding how to get it cheaper. During this process, I discovered what it was that made champagne pricey in the first place: it all comes from a very small part of France and is made to a very strict recipe handed down from one generation to the next.
Well, that was very much up my alley, and when I found out that champagne is made from three different grapes all blended together in different amounts each year to get the exact same taste, the story of three different sisters having to work together for the good of something bigger than themselves started to fall into place. I have two sisters and we get along very well, I couldn’t imagine not having them, or falling out with them. We’re like grapes, we come in a bunch.
Q: How did you go about doing research for House of Daughters?
I went straight to Champagne! I’ve been a food writer in the past so had contacts that got me in the door at Veuve Clicquot, Moet and Chandon, and Krug. Lunch with Remi Krug in Reims was a highlight – as was driving with him! Those were the big name champagne brands that have astonishing PR arms but I probably learned more in terms of what I would base the house of Peine on from the Tarlant family near Epernay, where I stayed for a bit, and where they grow their own grapes and where four generations of the family meet once a year to decide on the blend. One of my proudest moments was when the Tarlants wrote to me and asked if they could sell the UK version of the House of Daughters from their winery...and they sent it to customers as a Christmas present.
Critics Say . . .
(There don't seem to be any mainstream press reviews online for this novel. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for their customer reviews.)
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. The three sisters in this novel are very different. Do you see any similarities?
2. How are you different from, or like, your siblings? Do your differences and similarities draw you closer to your siblings?
3. The relationship between sisters has long been a subject of fascination in literature. Why do you think readers are so interested in sisters?
4. Clementine's father is a difficult man at the beginning of the novel. Did you find him more sympathetic by the end of the novel?
5. Which sister did you relate to the most? Why?
6. How important was the setting in the novel to you? Did it enrich or limit your experience of the story in any ways? Could you imagine this story set in a different environment?
7. Which essential part of champagne-making reflects the relationship between the sisters?
8. Sarah-Kate Lynch chose the names of her characters deliberately. Each sister is named after a quality she does not have at the beginning of the novel, but has been recognized for at the end. Can you pick those three qualities?
10. How important is a name in shaping a person’s character in real life? How does a character’s name influence your impressions of the character?
11. The novel is set in France and written as though perhaps translated from French. Did you use the glossary to translate the French words? Did you find the French words distracting or endearing?
12. Did the novel inspire you to learn more about champagne and the process of making champagne? Was that an integral part of the reading experience for you? Have you been to a champagne vineyard?
13. The three sisters all fall for Hector. Did you believe they were all in love with him? Why do you think each sister needed Hector’s attentions at that particular moment in their lives?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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