A Woman Fights for Her Legacy as the French Revolution Erupts
Headstrong Countess Joliette de Verzat prefers secretly managing her family’s Loire Valley château and vineyards to the cut-throat politics of Versailles. For nearly three centuries, generations of families have toiled to produce Château de Verzat wines, and their homes and livelihoods depend upon Joliette. But ancient laws block her from inheriting property—unless she is widowed. Revolution erupts.
Thousands of women march on Versailles. Caught in the battle, Joliette risks her own life to save her lover’s. She flees to Paris, blazing with hatred for aristocrats, where she discovers her illegitimate half-brother, Henri—the secret rightful heir who disdains the nobility to which he unknowingly belongs.
As insurrection mounts, Joliette faces heartbreaking choices. She must risk all that she loves and trust the people she has saved to save her.
Complicating matters is a revelation readers discover long before she does. Joliette has a half-brother, Henri, a young man of about her age who is caught up, thanks to his and Joliette’s father’s encouragement and support, in the revolutionary fervor gripping Paris. Writing with spirit and grace, plus an eye for the striking detail, Borchert keeps the story engaging and surprising despite its significant length, at times challenging reader expectations—while Her Own Legacy bursts with old-fashioned novel elements like secret siblings and a woman pressured to marry a miserable old widower with bad breath, both author and heroine alike commit to the promise of the title.
That means Joliette, a markswoman who learns the ropes of shipping and other business niceties, blazes her own trail, as she and her nation face grief, tumult, and execution as entertainment. Readers who love stories of determined women seizing opportunities history too often denied them will relish Joliette’s story. Death haunts the novel—relatives, royals, the old ways—but America, represented by Thomas Jefferson, a dashing ambassador with a palate for wine, offers a chance at something new.
Takeaway: This accomplished historical novel finds a young woman making her own choices as revolution sweeps France.
Great for fans of:Catherine Delors’s Mistress of the Revolution, Fay Weldon’s Habits of the House series.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
