1 The Vineyard by Maria Duenas

“Dueñas’ sweeping tale of fortunes made and lost abounds with dramatic characters and operatic plot twists […] this sprawling tale will charm fans of historical romance.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Heart wrenching yet uplifting, this beautifully rendered story will linger in readers’ minds”

– RT Book Reviews, four stars

The New York Times bestselling author of The Time in Between returns with a magnificent new novel set in 1860s Mexico City, Havana, and Spain about a self-made man who loses his fortune overnight but finds his destiny as he works to restore a legendary vineyard to its former glory, and to win the love of the combative widow who once owned the property.

Mauro Larrea sees the fortune that he had built after years of hardship and toil come crashing down on the heels of a calamitous event. Swamped by debts and uncertainty, he gambles the last of his last money in a daring move that offers him the opportunity to resuscitate his fortune. But when the unsettling Soledad Montalvo, wife of a London wine merchant, comes into his life, her passionate intensity lures him toward an unanticipated future.

The Vineyard spans diverse worlds, from the young Mexican republic to magnificent colonial Havana; from the West Indies to the Jerez of the second half of the nineteenth-century, when its wine trade with England turned the Andalusian city into a legendary cosmopolitan enclave. A novel replete with glories and defeats, with silver mines, family intrigues, vineyards, and splendid places whose grandeur has faded in time, The Vineyard is a story of resilience in the face of adversity, of a lifeline forever altered by the force of passion.