A Good Year

A novel of wine, women and sun, with a plot that offers more twists than a corkscrew. Max Skinner is a man at the heart of London's financial universe - until the day the notorious Lawton Brothers do a little asset-stripping of their own. Himself. But there is one potential ray of sunshine in Max's life: his Uncle Harry has left him his estate in his will - an eighteenth-century house and vineyard an hour's drive from Avignon. Out of a job, and encouraged by his friend Charlie's talk of the money in modern wine, Max heads for France to assess its potential. Once there he discovers a beautiful house, wonderful weather and a bustling village in the shape of St Pons. The only downside to his new life is the quality of the wine from the vineyard and the brooding presence of Roussel, a former employee of his uncle. And then there's the arrival of a mysterious stranger from California...