The Widow Clicquot
The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It
|
|
The Widow Clicquot is the New York Times bestselling business biography of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, became a legend in her tumultuous times, and showed the world how to live with style. Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life the woman behind the label, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, in this utterly intoxicating book that is as much a fascinating journey through the process of making this temperamental wine as a biography of a uniquely tempered and fascinating woman.
The story of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, showed the world how to live with style, and emerged a legend
Veuve Clicquot champagne epitomizes glamour, style, and luxury. But who was this young widow—the Veuve Clicquot—whose champagne sparkled at the courts of France, Britain, and Russia, and how did she rise to celebrity and fortune?
In The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life—for the first time—the fascinating woman behind the iconic yellow label: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin. A young witness to the dramatic events of the French Revolution and a new widow during the chaotic years of the Napoleonic Wars, Barbe-Nicole defied convention by assuming—after her husband's death—the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured. Steering the company through dizzying political and financial reversals, she became one of the world's first great businesswomen and one of the richest women of her time.
Although the Widow Clicquot is still a legend in her native France, her story has never been told in all its richness—until now. Painstakingly researched and elegantly written, The Widow Clicquot provides a glimpse into the life of a woman who arranged clandestine and perilous champagne deliveries to Russia one day and entertained Napoléon and Joséphine Bonaparte on another. She was a daring and determined entrepreneur, a bold risk taker, and an audacious and intelligent woman who took control of her own destiny when fate left her on the brink of financial ruin. Her legacy lives on today, not simply through the famous product that still bears her name, but now through Mazzeo's finely crafted book. As much a fascinating journey through the process of making this temperamental wine as a biography of a uniquely tempered woman, The Widow Clicquot is utterly intoxicating.
|
|
|
Author Extras
Reading Guides:
|
|
Awards for The Widow Clicquot |
|
-
Gourmand World Cookbook Award Best Single Subject Book in English
|
|
-
Gourmand World Cookbook Award Best Single Subject Book in English
|
|
|
|
|
|
Critical Praise for
The Widow Clicquot
"The Widow Clicquot is someone we should all know about.... Long a shadowy, legend-obscured figure, in Tilar Mazzeo’s agile hands the widow sheds her weeds and takes form before our eyes as a distinctly modern entrepreneur....The result is narrative history that fizzes with life and feeling."
—
Benjamin Wallace, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Billionaire's Vinegar
"Joan of Arc and Madame Clicquot were the two women heroes I knew when growing up in France. What a gift to have this new, well-researched biography of one of the world’s first ‘legitimate’ businesswoman, our contemporary as a global business leader."
—
Mireille Guiliano, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller, French Women Don't Get Fat
"Mazzeo’s tale moves swiftly through Barbe-Nicole’s many accomplishments, including her method for storing bottles nose-down—an innovation that allowed the second fermentation detritus to be cleared efficiently, setting her far ahead of her competitors."
—
Los Angeles Times
"Told in a light and graceful style that is just right for its subject…. [I]t’s a fascinating trip, made even more so by Ms. Mazzeo’s charming cameo appearances as a kind of tour guide…. This example of Barbe-Nicole’s voice is exceptional…an intoxicating business biography."
—
Julia Flynn Siler, The Wall Street Journal
"If you like champagne, "The Widow Clicquot" by Tilar J. Mazzeo is definitely worth a drink."
—
Associated Press
"Tilar J. Mazzeo’s informed and enlightening biography of Madame Clicquot, the widow and, more important, the businesswoman, retrieves her vintage story as if looking for a rare bottle in one of the Champagne region’s deepest caves."
—
Newsday
The Widow Clicquot is a miraculous feat of organization, one worthy of a doctoral thesis…. [I]n its moments of action, this is actually a gripping story. And while the book appears to be a feminist history/business biography, it’s also the appealing story of the author’s odyssey.
—
Austin Chronicle
"Mazzeo’s resulting book is an enticing stew of biography and history."
—
USA Today
"The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo’s sweeping oenobiography of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, is the story of a woman who was a smashing success long before anyone conceptualized the glass ceiling."
—
New York Times Book Review
"This book is full of fascinating morsels of information."
—
Canberra Times
|
The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Fam
Every minute, someone buys an Art Deco-inspired, amber-hued bottle of Chanel No. 5-to the tune of more than half a million bottles a year. Considering that nearly ninety years have passed since No. 5′s creation, this statistic alone makes a compelling case for the...
|
|
The Secret of Chanel No. 5
The unauthorized biography of the world's most famous, seductive, and successful perfume With its rich golden hue, art deco–inspired bottle, and timeless, musky scent, Chanel No. 5 is the world's bestselling perfume. Reverently known among industry insiders as le monstre—the...
|
|
|
The New Rules for Blondes
By Selena Coppock
Writer, comedienne, and full-time Blonde, Selena Coppock offers up adventures, misadventures, and golden-hued nuggets of wisdom in a laugh-out-loud anthem for those of us who really do have more fun. . . . The modern blonde is savvy, wise, confident, capable, and not afraid to laugh at herself...
|
|
However Long the Night
By Aimee Molloy
The story of how one of the "most powerful women in women's rights" ( Forbes )is paving the way to a world with human dignity for all. However Long the Night is the extraordinary story of one woman's determination to create a movement toward change, and a better future, for millions of girls and...
|
|
Unsinkable
By Debbie Reynolds, Dorian Hannaway
The definitive memoir by legendary actress and performer Debbie Reynolds—an entertaining and moving story of enduring friendships and unbreakable family bonds, of hitting bottom and rising to the top again—that offers a unique and deeply personal perspective on Hollywood and its elite,...
|
|
View more new releases »
|
|
|
|