After reading
Wine
Witch on Fire by Natalie MacLean while on holidays, I just had to reach out and ask to share her book on my blog! Here's my own review posted on Goodreads
and Amazon. Keep reading for many, many, many more!!
"When we name what's happening to us and how we feel
about it, we often feel a release. That's why memoirs are so powerful. People
feel seen and heard in someone else's experience, someone who has put it into
words for them." (page 259 - which has a lot of great stuff!)
During my
own coming-of-middle-age story, I discovered Wine Witch on Fire in a wine store
in the Okanagan Valley after moving from Toronto. Coincidence? I don't believe
in them! I can say that once I dug into this book, I couldn't put it down-much
like a good glass of pinot grigio or semillon. This book is not only filled
with Natalie's story of a horrific year that completely changed her life, but
lots of great tidbits about wines, wineries, and witches. I found myself taking
notes!
Whether you
love wine or are just looking for a good memoir to read, Natalie's story deals
with her entire world imploding after the end of her marriage as well as an
online attack from people who envy her success. I highly recommend this book,
which has several great insights and an easy to read style.
It also pairs
well with a patio and something cold, light, and bubbly. But that's just my
personal preference! --- Diane
And now, here's Natalie!
Natalie MacLean was
named the World's Best Drinks Writer at the World Food Media Awards, and has
won four James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards. She is the only person to
have won both the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James
Beard Foundation and the M.F.K. Fisher Award for Excellence in Culinary Writing
from Les Dames d'Escoffier International.
Her books — Red,
White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass and Unquenchable:
A Tipsy Quest for the World's Best Bargain Wines — were both selected
as one of Amazon's Best Books of the Year. Wine Witch on Fire:
Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much is
her debut memoir.
Natalie is the host
of Unreserved Wine Talk, named one of the seven best
drinks podcasts by the New York Times and one of Apple's Best Listens of the
Year. Her website attracts 3.2 million visitors a year and
her team has a combined following of 550,000 followers on social media. She is the wine expert for CTV's The
Social, CTV News, and Your Morning.
Natalie studied the
Romantic Poets at Oxford University with Jonathan Wordsworth and graduated with
honors from the Master's of Business Administration at Western University.
Before joining the wine world, she worked at Procter & Gamble in brand
management (Pringles, Crisco, Duncan Hines), and then at the supercomputer
company SGI in Mountainview, California, now the headquarters of Google.
Instagram @nataliemacleanwine
Facebook @natdecants
Twitter @nataliemaclean
LinkedIn @nataliemaclean
TikTok @nataliemacleanwine
Goodreads @natalie_maclean
YouTube @nataliemaclean
Wine Witch on Fire
Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much
A powerful memoir of how one woman 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 depression 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 confronts her insider role in the slick marketing
encouraging 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 female 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.
Advance Praise
for Wine Witch on Fire
Zesty, vibrant, meditative, edgy,
structured, intense—these words Natalie MacLean might use to describe wines all
apply to her Wine Witch on Fire. With clear-eyed honesty and
needle-sharp probing, her memoir covers a time of personal and of professional
crisis, much of which rose from the astonishing sexism of other wine
writers. Dire, yes, but the book is funny and a page turner. MacLean
appreciates the scope of the wine world, commenting that “You could create
liberal arts degree with wine as the hub, connecting the spokes of all human
endeavor.” Fast-paced prose nevertheless yields many moments to ponder:
“Maybe a memoir is a hug for your past self when you needed one but were
alone.” And: “While meeting Daniel helped, I realized that I was the
one I’d been waiting for.” Anyone at a crux will be buoyed by this writer’s
grit and grace. - Frances Mayes, author of the
#1 New York Times bestseller Under the Tuscan
Sun and A Place in the World
Courageous—that’s the first word that
comes to mind while reading Natalie MacLean’s new memoir Wine Witch on Fire.
MacLean is an accomplished wine writer, but this deeply personal book takes us
behind the scenes, revealing one woman’s journey and extraordinary
determination. - Karen MacNeil, best-selling
author of The Wine Bible
Rousing, funny, and insider-y, Natalie
MacLean's soul-baring memoir paints an evocative and compelling picture of what
it’s like to be a woman in wine.
- Nell McShane Wulfhart, best-selling author of Off Menu and New
York Times columnist
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, best-selling author of ten cookbooks, Food Network host,
Order of Canada
Filled with
grit and vulnerability, MacLean examines the hardest parts of being a woman in
a man’s world with honesty and poise. A read filled with healing and hope. - Victoria James, best-selling author of Wine Girl: The Obstacles,
Humiliations, and Triumphs of America's Youngest Sommelier
There’s a lot of
underbelly in this memoir. Someone will inevitably say it’s
about score-settling, but that’s less an opinion than a gaslighting. Natalie bent over
backwards to be fair. This book is a significant gesture to push the wine
industry toward greater inclusion of people who’ve been
marginalized. While this memoir will be torn and shredded by many persons
of ill will and with minds less acute than hers, I hope she
stays resolute. I wish her strength and
contentment. Natalie, you done good. - Terry Theise, bestselling
author of Reading Between the Wines and What Makes A
Wine Worth Drinking
Natalie
has crafted her experience into what could pass for an unputdownable
thriller. It’s all the more jarring because it’s based on fact. I loved
the tension and fast-paced writing. Any man who has a
daughter, sister, or mother should read this book. Women with a little witch
and fire within them will enjoy it too.- Steven
Laine, bestselling author of Dragonvine
With a voice
full of humour and keen honesty, wine writer Natalie Maclean pairs the personal
with the political in her new book, Wine Witch on Fire. In the process,
she exposes the sexism of an industry while coming to understand her own
hard-won strengths. A delightful read with or without a glass of wine. - Suzanne Evans, author of The
Taste of Longing, winner of the Taste Canada Gold Award
In Wine Witch on Fire, Natalie MacLean opens her
heart with authenticity to the pain of love lost, the joy of discovering new
love, and the endless questions of balancing parenting with being a working
professional. Her love of language is a joyous counterpart to her love of
viticulture. I learned so much from this fine memoir and I have a strong sense
its appeal to the artist in all of us is limitless. - Ken Goldstein,
best-selling author of Endless Encores and From
Nothing
MacLean is well known for her vast
wine knowledge and for sharing that knowledge but with this work she shares a
plethora of personal life crises with humour and compassion teaching that
anyone who experiences similar troubles and mid-life crises can also transform
their lives. Middle-aged men can learn a lot about how to support their female
partner by encouraging her self-worth. It’s a must read for everyone over
thirty years old. - John J. Mahoney, Ph.D., C.W.E.,
author of Every Bottle Has a Story, Wine for Intellectuals and Wine:
The Source of Civilization
Natalie
Maclean has written a harrowing, heartfelt and often hilarious account of the
backlash she endured breaching the largely male-dominated world of wine
writing. This highly personal odyssey is an eyes-wide-open take on betrayal,
the insidious lure of addiction, and the sheer mettle required to rise above
those seeking to cast a poisonous spell. - Rosa Harris, best-selling
author of Boomerville
Wine wizard
wordsmith, enchanting interviewer, battle-tested survivor, fierce mother,
witty, wise—Natalie MacLean is the whole package. Sip a great wine while you
savor her memoir. - Gus Clemens, nationally syndicated wine columnist,
Gannett/USA Today
Natalie
MacLean offers readers a look into the magical world of wine, addressing
head-on its problematic treatment of women throughout the industry. I came away
from this book feeling less alone, as if I'd shared a great bottle with a
friend and talked through the life problems we all experience at some point. - Rachel
Signer, best-selling author of You Had Me at Pét-Nat
I'm encouraged by the support everyday wine lovers and
readers are giving the book on Goodreads, the social media site for
book lovers owned by Amazon:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62020400-wine-witch-on-fire
Other Books By Natalie
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