Wine Witch on Fire

Book excerpt: A NATIONAL BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR 2024 TASTE CANADA AWARD — CULINARY NARRATIVES • FINALIST FOR THE 2024 OTTAWA BOOK AWARDS A powerful memoir about one woman who resurrects her life and career in the glamorous but sexist wine industry. Natalie MacLean, a bestselling wine writer, is shocked when her husband of twenty years, a high-powered CEO, demands a divorce. Then an online mob of rivals comes for her career. Wavering between despair and determination, she must fight for her son, rebuild her career, and salvage her self-worth using her superpowers: heart, humour, and an uncanny ability to pair wine and food. Natalie questions her insider role in the slick marketing that encourages women to drink too much while she battles the wine world’s veiled misogyny. Facing the worst vintage of her life, she reconnects with the vineyards that once brought her joy, the friends who sustain her, and her own belief in second chances. This true coming-of-middle-age story is about transforming your life and finding love along the way. “This decade’s Eat Pray Love ... Natalie MacLean survived an online mob, divorce and drinking too much. Her new memoir will help you get through your own mess, too.” — The Coast Magazine “The book is funny, edgy, and a page turner. Zesty, vibrant, meditative, structured, intense ... anyone at a crux will be buoyed by this writer’s grit and grace.” — Frances Mayes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun “This deeply personal memoir tells the inspiring story of a talented woman navigating the treacherous currents of the wine industry, finding her voice and regaining her power through a true connection to time and place, human terroir.” ― Chef Michael Smith, bestselling author of ten cookbooks and Food Network host “Forthright, wry, and heady, Wine Witch on Fire is a memoir about wine, life, and hard-won wisdom.” ― Foreword Reviews “Filled with grit, vulnerability, healing and hope.” ― Victoria James, bestselling author of Wine Girl