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Overview
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times national correspondent Timothy Egan turns to fiction with The Winemaker's Daughter, a lyrical and gripping novel about the harsh realities and ecological challenges of turning water into wine.
When Brunella Cartolano visits her father on the family vineyard in the basin of the Cascade Mountains, she's shocked by the devastation caused by a four-year drought. Passionate about the Pacific Northwest ecology, Brunella, a cultural impact analyst, is embroiled in a battle to save the Seattle waterfront from redevelopment and to preserve a fisherman's livelihood. But when a tragedy among fire-jumpers results from a failure of the water supply–her brother Niccolo is among those lost—Brunella finds herself with another mission: to find out who is sabotaging the area's water supply. Joining forces with a Native American Forest Ranger, she discovers deep rifts rooted in the region's complicated history, and tries to save her father's vineyard from drying up for good . . . even as violence and corruption erupt around her.
Synopsis
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times national correspondent Timothy Egan turns to fiction with The Winemaker's Daughter, a lyrical and gripping novel about the harsh realities and ecological challenges of turning water into wine.
When Brunella Cartolano visits her father on the family vineyard in the basin of the Cascade Mountains, she's shocked by the devastation caused by a four-year drought. Passionate about the Pacific Northwest ecology, Brunella, a cultural impact analyst, is embroiled in a battle to save the Seattle waterfront from redevelopment and to preserve a fisherman's livelihood. But when a tragedy among fire-jumpers results from a failure of the water supply–her brother Niccolo is among those lost--Brunella finds herself with another mission: to find out who is sabotaging the area's water supply. Joining forces with a Native American Forest Ranger, she discovers deep rifts rooted in the region's complicated history, and tries to save her father's vineyard from drying up for good . . . even as violence and corruption erupt around her.
The New York Times
What makes the novel worth reading are its nonfiction qualities. Among these are a portrait of Seattle that tempts you to buy a plane ticket to see the place for yourself and a discussion of what has happened to the Columbia River Basin since the building of the Grand Coulee Dam -- a discussion that suggests the dream Woody Guthrie promoted when he sang ''Roll On, Columbia'' never came true. — David Willis McCullough
Editorials
From the Publisher
"Larry McMurtry has Texas, Garrison Keillor has Minnesota and Louise Erdrich has the Northern Plains. With this novel . . . Timothy Egan stakes his claim as the voice of the Pacific Northwest. . . . A hugely impressive first novel. “ —The Baltimore Sun“An action-packed, finely detailed portrait of the land and people of the Pacific Northwest.” —San Francisco Chronicle
"A good read, showcasing Mr. Egan's lived-in sense of place as well as his knowledge of wine culture."—The New York Times
"A page-turner that manages to avoid the trite and instead embrace truthful contemporary issues. . . . Well-crafted."—Rocky Mountain News
"The Winemaker's Daughter is an allegory of sorts, an extended conceit in which the figures and events stand for something larger than themselves. Like his prior nonfiction work, it's incisive, exacting, and sharply written; it also benefits from his acerbic sensibility, which lends it a satiric wit. Bravo to Tim Egan!" —David Guterson
"Moving. . . . Peppered with wonderful descriptions . . . knockout local color . . . [and] a portrait of Seattle that tempts you to buy a plane ticket to see the place for yourself." —The New York Times Book Review
"The contours of the land seem to shape Egan’s characters . . . giving them unusual depth and binding them inextricably to one another. . . . The Winemaker’s Daughter may be Egan’s first novel, but it is obviously the work of an old hand." —The Columbus Dispatch
"An affecting work." —The Dallas Morning News
"Egan knows the Pacific Northwest well and writes about it lovingly. . . . With a reporter's eye for detail, Egan deftly delineates some hot-button issues of the late 1990s (redevelopment; the dot-com frenzy and inevitable bust; Indian casinos)." —Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"Boils over with serious issues about winemaking in the West. . . . Oenophiles will revel in the wine-geeky details." —The Oregonian
"An involving, complex, puzzling novel that is mystery and romance, literature and entertainment. . . . Egan cuts to the core and takes us on a journey rather unlike any other." —Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)
The New York Times
What makes the novel worth reading are its nonfiction qualities. Among these are a portrait of Seattle that tempts you to buy a plane ticket to see the place for yourself and a discussion of what has happened to the Columbia River Basin since the building of the Grand Coulee Dam -- a discussion that suggests the dream Woody Guthrie promoted when he sang ''Roll On, Columbia'' never came true. — David Willis McCulloughPublishers Weekly
Scattered, clumsy and overearnest, this debut novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Egan tells the story of Brunella Cartolano, an architect who strives to save the family vineyards in the arid wine country east of Washington's Cascade Mountains. On a visit home, Brunella finds her widowed father aging quickly and a water crisis underway; after four years of drought, tempers are frayed in the region. A fire breaks out nearby, and Brunella's younger brother, Niccolo, a firejumper on his summer break from college, is sent to fight it, along with Teddy Flax, a neighbor with a romantic interest in Brunella. Something goes wrong, and Niccolo is killed; Teddy is terribly disfigured. Brunella is enmeshed in the investigation of the tragedy and works with Leon Treadtoofar, the Nez Perce Forest Service man trying to find out who was at fault for the mishap. Meanwhile, Brunella is caught up in a feud over stolen water, finds herself battling the Seattle company she is working for and tries to prevent the sale of the family farm by her unscrupulous older brother, Robert. Egan shakily juggles his convoluted and competing plot lines, skipping erratically from scene to scene. When he slows down, some evocative moments emerge, among them the smoke-jumping episodes and Brunella's dramatic meeting in a church with Teddy. But Egan never manages to make the crusading, Italian-spouting Brunella engaging, and awkward dialogue, unconvincing relationships and forced symbolism further hamstring the novel. Egan's nonfiction journey through the American West, Lasso the Wind (1998), was widely praised; with this foray into fiction, he loses his way. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.KLIATT
In a tale about a vineyard set in the Cascade Mountain basin east of Seattle, Eagan is able to tell of clashing cultures (farmers vs. Native Americans, new residents vs. old timers); the tragedies brought on by a four-year drought, fire and greed; and the story of a family. The Cartolano clan, currently headed by Angelo, has been making wine for centuries. Now the crop is threatened by drought and by feuding among the children. When one son is killed in a fire-fighting accident, the cultures come into direct conflict. Brunella Cartolano is the modern daughter who is involved at different levels in all the conflicts. This novel is primarily her story as she tries to find her own place, geographically, as a woman, and in her family. The author shows great understanding of all the forces at play. Only his love scenes, told from a woman's point of view, seem a little off and the loose ends are tied up very quickly at the end. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2004, Random House, Vintage, 305p., Ages 15 to adult.—Nola Theiss