The Inheritance
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“Moving… This engrossing and hopeful story will hold readers from start to finish.”—Publishers Weekly “Family secrets, complex characters and a glorious setting make The Inheritance a rich, compelling read...JoAnn Ross at her best!” —Sherryl Woods, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sweet Magnolias series With a dramatic wartime love story woven through, JoAnn Ross's brilliant new novel is a gorgeous generational saga about the rivalry, history and loyalty that bond sisters together When conflict photographer Jackson Swann dies, he leaves behind a conflict of his own making when his three daughters, each born to a different mother, discover that they’re now responsible for the family’s Oregon vineyard—and for a family they didn’t ask for. After a successful career as a child TV star, Tess is, for the first time, suffering from a serious identity crisis, and grieving for the absent father she’s resented all her life. Charlotte, brought up to be a proper Southern wife, gave up her own career to support her husband's political ambitions. On the worst day of her life, she discovers her beloved father has died, she has two sisters she never knew about and her husband has fallen in love with another woman. Natalie, daughter of Jack’s longtime mistress, has always known about her half sisters, and has dreaded the day when Tess and Charlotte find out she’s the daughter their father kept. As the sisters reluctantly gather at the vineyard, they’re soon enchanted by the Swann family matriarch and namesake of Maison de Madeleine wines, whose stories of bravery in WWII France and love for a wounded American soldier will reveal the family legacy they've each inherited and change the course of all their lives.
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Solid Women's Fiction With Historical Elements. This is one of those books where the description perfectly sets up what you're actually getting here - a tale of siblings finding each other after their father passes away and sets in motion a plan for the three of them to meet. Along the way, they discover their still-living grandmother and get to hear the stories of her activities in WWII - including meeting and falling in love with their grandfather. On these elements, this is a solidly written women's fiction tale with historical fiction elements - but I personally would not market this as a “historical fiction” title. So if you're a reader that only reads historical fiction... I'd still say this one is worthy of your time, just know that you aren't getting a true tale of that genre here. Indeed, along the story of one of the sisters in particular (and to a lesser extent another of them), this could be marketed as a romance - though the women's fiction side is still the dominant side of the tale. The titular Inheritance? Well, that's actually the best part of the tale... when you realize what Ross intends it as. Overall a strong book filled with strongly developed characters among is main and primary supporting cast, and a very well told story. Very much recommended.