Earlier this month (in this post), I described my champagne-themed gift to my Mum last Christmas, and how we watched the film based on a book about the Widow Clicquot (Veuve Clicquot).
By that time, I had already begun to read the book that I had given to my Mum and borrowed from her as soon as she had finished it.
Here is my review of it.
Im Rausch der Zeit
(original title: "The Widow Clicquot - The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled it")
by Tilar J. Mazzeo
Clicking here will take you to the author's own website, where one of the first things you'll see is a trailer of the film we saw, about the widow's years as a young wife, mother, widow and business woman.
Unlike the film, the book covers her entire life from early childhood to her death and a little beyond. Frequently it is stated that not much has survived in terms of letters, diaries etc. from or about Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, whereas her business archives have been kept meticulously, and sometimes these offer a rare glimpse into the kind of person she was.
The wikipedia entry about this formidable lady is here.
In the book, she comes across as a woman who, after being widowed at 27, throws all her heart and energy into her own wine business, eventually becoming one of the richest women of her time. As a public figure, she was well known to her contemporaries, but as a private person, only her family and a select few close friends knew her.
It was by no means totally unusual for a woman to run a business at that time, but those were mostly small family businesses, often in hospitality or related to crafts that were considered "feminine" such as dressmaking. Mme Clicquot sought international markets and expansion; she had managers and workers, and deliberately excluded family members from the operating of her business.
She was by no means a feminist; all she wanted for her own daughter was a good marriage, and when the young woman found an impoverished count to marry, it was a dream come true - the money came from her, the aristocratic title from him.
Even long after she officially retired, leaving the day-to-day running of her highly successful company in the hands of her trusted manager, she still took a keen interest in everything, and up to the last day of her long life she looked into the company's books.
Under many aspects, hers was an extraordinary life. The times were forever changing, making things difficult for the economy more than once, with new regulations coming into place seemingly at the whim of whoever was in charge at any given moment (sounds familiar). The early death of her husband certainly was a determining factor in Mme Clicquot's life. Male friends and business partners seem to have been closer to her than female friends, apart from a cousin whose private correspondence is one of the few sources of personal information about the Widow.
I liked the book well enough and appreciate that a lot of research and effort went into it. Also, the author is very knowledgeable about wine in general and champagne in particular. These facts are well presented, and I certainly learned a lot.
The writing style as such wasn't so that I am now going to buy and read all of the author's books. I must admit that sometimes I found it to be a little repetitive and not very elegant in terms of language. But how much of this is down to the translation (I bought the German version locally), I can't say.