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“Those who enjoy the work of such popular feminist speculative fiction writers as Joanna Russ and Ursula K. Le Guin will find much to admire here.” —Publishers Weekly
Winner of the IAFA Crawford, and the James Tiptree, Jr., and the Aurora awards, Black Wine beckons readers into a stark and richly realized world similar to yet very different from our own, to explore the many ways a woman can be cut off from her own history. How does a woman survive, maintain her sense of self in such a place? An amnesiac slave girl struggles to learn about her past—and secure a future outside the oppressive society that binds her. A female adventurer confronts danger as she searches for her lost mother. A wife struggles within a marriage to a man she does not want. A world of female characters whose emotional journeys are intimately intertwined, where identity and history, language and perception, sexuality and oppression, unite them in their search for meaning, human connection, and ultimately, freedom.
“The careful braiding of self, places, and times insidiously pulls you in.—Elisabeth Vonarburg, author of The Silent City and The Maerlande Chronicles
“Like its title, Black Wine is rare and darkly glowing with iridescence. A taut, spare, wonderful creation.” —Edmonton Journal
“A tantalizing, distinctive, sexy, and beautifully rendered first novel.” —Kirkus Reviews
ASIN : B0C1G2G8D9
Publisher : Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy (June 20, 2023)
Publication date : June 20, 2023
Language : English
File size : 2751 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 356 pages
Reviewer: Olivia Messenger
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Love this book
Review: Lush, enthralling, freaking frightening. I love this book more than words can say.
Reviewer: J. R. Uder
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Something doesn't quite connect...
Review: I felt myself reaching for a theme while reading "Black Wine." Somehow, the lives of 5 generations of women are weirdly tied up with one another -- so much so that sometimes the reader will wonder which woman she is reading about. There is an echo of each of the elders in the lives of their daughters.The book opens with a madwoman sitting in a cage, writing in her journal with her own blood. A slave-girl with an opal abacus begins talking to the old woman. The journal(s) and the abacus come back to haunt the reader again and again as the reader tries to piece together the relationships of the women in the book. Daughters are abandoned, mothers are mourned, sisters become lovers.The significance of time, numbers, and languages are fleeting, but never are they fully realized. The black wine hints at ties of blood -- but there is only the hint, never a realization of its meaning.Incest is rampant in this book, especially concerning the despot grandmother (who apparently dabbles in S/M). Two half-sisters become best friends, lovers. One of the women marries a bi-sexual couple. The various sexual groupings only serve to highlight themselves against the other groupings: the grandmother sleeping with her nephew comes across as sick and depraved, while the love between the half-sisters suggests a bond so deep and pure that their sisterhood can be excused (shouldn't we all find love so deep?).I'm still grasping at a uniting theme, and I feel as though I'm just barely missing. This book is good, almost literature. Almost.
Reviewer: Mr. Richard M. Smith
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Five Stars
Review: thank yu
Reviewer: J. D. Murray
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I adore this book - but!
Review: I really do adore this book; it's one of my favorites. I love the author's prose, her juxtaposition of poetic language with sharp, spare description. The mysterious and mundane are wound together in this book until it's difficult to tell which is which - to me, one of the primary themes of the book. It's something to read deeply and puzzle over.That said, it's definitely not for everyone! The story can be hard to follow at times, with points of view wandering around at irregular intervals. Many of the important characters lack names, and time periods are uncertain. If you like stories with a clear beginning-middle-end, and you're more into plot than character or setting, this is not a book for you.As other reviewers have noted, there's a fair amount of sexual content in the book. I found it generally tastefully done, but of course people's tastes vary, and I'm more comfortable with matter-of-factly graphic depictions of sex than many. It definitely pushes at the boundaries of what many would consider acceptable and explores the range of human sexual and romantic expression. I would not consider this book erotica; the sex isn't depicted erotically, but as a meaningful act of connection. The meaning, of course, varies: some of the scenes are entirely horrific, sexually and otherwise. I would say that this work is not for the squeamish.If you don't mind being swept up in a dream and unsure of what it is you're supposed to be thinking, feeling, or learning, the book is simply amazing. Come to it in ignorance; pretend you don't have any idea what a book is supposed to be; it breaks all the rules about what books are supposed to be in any case. If you're willing to trust Candas Jane Dorsey to take you on a journey woven of interlocking stories through a complex, richly textured, completely impossible world, you'll enjoy Black Wine.
Reviewer: Christopher C.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting setting and characters, but for what?
Review: This fantasy work of Dorsey's involves a unique and interesting setting and distinct characters, but after finishing the book I truly had no idea what the book was trying to say. I suppose the work could be taken as a celebration of the bonds between sisters and between daughters and mothers, but outside of that "Black Wine" really doesn't have anything to prove. Although I wouldn't tout the author's language as anything worthy of instant attention, I felt her use of words did well to build the mysterious, dark mood of much of the novel, and it is on this that I give the book 3 stars. There were quite a few graphic sex scenes, and numerous simply inexplicable sexual references (was I the only one who thought the mention of "handprints" was just kind of silly?), so those with easily-offended morals would best avoid this book.
Reviewer: K. Lowe
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very Good Read
Review: All in all I think this book was a good read. I am used to books that are a little more wordy and more difficult to read, so this book was a breeze in that respect. Once you get into the story the pages just fly by. You just need to get past the first 75-100 pages for it all to start to make sense. I really enjoyed Dorsey's ability to be discriptive without the overkill I have gotten from other such authors.The style of bouncing from past to present and in between characters reminds me of the writing style of Quentin Tarantino, of course in the end it all makes sense. I think if this story was told any other way it wouldn't have been so interesting and thought provoking.I think this book brings out some great emotional feelings in the reader, you can almost feel what each character is going through. Enjoyable. The only reason I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, is I think she could have done a little more with the ending, I would have loved to see this stroy continue a little more. It seemed to me that just when it was getting really interesting it ended, kind of left you hanging, wanting more. But then again, that may have been Dorsey's intention. It definately makes you think.
Reviewer: Caradina
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A lifetime favorite
Review: I first read this when it was newly released. I was 16, and I loved it. I read it again at 25, and again at 30. I'm itching to read it again. Every time I read it, I see something new, derive a different message, and make a new connection. It is dark and lush and wonderful.