The Italian Vineyard is a dual timeline novel featuring Charlotte in 1939 and her great-granddaughter Kate in 2015. I've read numerous dual timeline books in the past few years and I was surprised that despite starting the book with Charlotte in 1939 that the book really spent almost no time focusing on WWII. The novel's emphasis is on the romantic relationships that each of the two women had in their individual storylines. The author gives beautiful descriptions of the Italian vineyard where each woman spends time to learn about wine-making. And, of course, the Italian vineyard is an excellent setting for the budding romances in Charlotte's and Kate's lives. The book shares their thoughts and emotions regarding their relationships with the men they're attracted to and the possibilities for the future. They also have concerns about their family members and their family's opinion of the men in their lives. Charlotte and Kate are written in a way that makes the reader come to care for them and really hope for them to find their "happy ending". This is a well-written book and recommended for readers who enjoy romance novels that have a bit of intrigue in them. I am giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 only because I thought this would be the history of life on an Italian vineyard during WWII with some romance instead of romance being its main focus. I received an ARC from NetGalley but all the opinions shared are my own.

Heartfelt 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I closed The Italian Vineyard with my heart full, after reading it in just one day! It was pure, gentle escapism: a story flowing between past and present, vines and family secrets, loss and quiet rebirth. The story unfolds in two timelines through the voices of Lady Charlotte and her great-granddaughter Kate. Two women, two eras, yet one shared flame: love, resilience, and a legacy.

I loved how the story unfolds between two symbolic places — the sun-drenched Veneto, land of Amarone and passion, and the Surrey countryside with Copeley Park, an elegant English estate that holds the family’s roots and memories. This contrast is beautiful: Italy as warmth and renewal, England as heritage and anchor.

Lady Charlotte’s chapters moved me deeply — her quiet strength, her first love and her dignity. Kate’s journey was equally moving: facing her mother’s death, her divorce — yet finding hope again through the vineyard, the Amarone, and her English roots at Copeley Park.

This novel is a tender ode to legacy: between generations, between lands, between women who carry a flame inside them no matter the obstacles. Anita Chapman’s writing made me travel so far while touching something deeply personal — the very best kind of escapism!

Her writing is elegant, immersive, never heavy-handed yet full of emotion. I loved how she blends a nostalgic, romantic atmosphere with a subtle contemporary touch. This book was a perfect break between my usual romantasy reads.

Grazie mille, Anita Chapman — my first novel by you, but definitely not my last!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Anita Chapman for this beautiful ARC. It was such a privilege to discover this story before its release — I truly hope many readers will find in The Italian Vineyard the same gentle escape and heartfelt journey that I did. Wishing Anita Chapman all the success this beautiful novel deserves.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I enjoyed reading this dual timeline book which is about three generations of an English family, and the links they have to an Italian vineyard.

In 1930, we meet Lady Charlotte when WWII was just beginning. She goes to see her cousin following the death of her husband and immediately falls in love with the grape vineyards in Italy. At the same time finding that love does exist second time around. She goes with Albert, head gardener of the estate so that the wine can be produced just as well at the estate as it is in Italy.

In the present day, we meet Kate, she’s recently come out of a relationship and she is Lady Charlotte's great-granddaughter. When she visit Lady Charlotte, she’s given an old wooden box, inside which is an old Amarone wine, also inside the box is a boy with just the initial “B” along with a ticket to Verona vineyards.

On the way home her car has a tyre puncture and she meets Ben who is the new head gardener in charge of her father's estate,

Kate wants to find out who “B” is and why the note was in the wooden box, what was he to her Gran? So she starts to investigate what happened in the years gone by.

I loved the setting of the story and the characters.

I highly recommend this book.

The book opens in 1939, and we meet Lady Charlotte in Verona. She has been gifted a special, boxed bottle of a fine vintage wine, and she is imagining when she might open and enjoy it.
We then fast forward to 2015 and meet Kate, Lady Charlotte’s great-granddaughter. Kate is nursing heartbreaking wounds as we discover that she lost her mother just a few years earlier, and her father had remarried a much younger woman. Kate’s husband had turned out to be a terrible person. As her marriage is looking far less than loving, it’s very clear that she needs to find a new place to live, as her flatmates are making plans that won’t include her.
Returning to Lady Charlotte, it soon became clear that she had also endured a loveless marriage that her lovely but social-climbing father had arranged. Concentrating on her desire to enjoy her home at Copeley Park and learn more about a vineyard in Verona, she strikes out independently, escorted by her Head Gardener, a maid and a valet. It’s there, in Verona, that Charlotte finally relaxes into her potential new life.
I genuinely adore the way that Anita constructs her stories. The build-up is steady and paints a perfect backdrop for the action to fall against. Charlotte’s history was an interesting mirror to view Kate with, and the similarities in their stories were impossible to ignore. The common denominators were, without a doubt, Charlotte’s relationship with Albert and Kate’s growing attraction to Ben. In each era, there’s a definite thread linking their stories together, which creates the backbone to this glorious book. Charlotte’s pain from her forbidden attraction to the gardener was the ideal foil to examine Kate’s tentative attraction to Ben.
Times may have changed, but there was no doubt that both relationships were beneath the women’s social standing, and neither of them cared about such things. I honestly can’t decide whose relationship I was most invested in, but they both exuded romance and left me feeling quite hopeful.
If you love romance that must face challenges, please read the Italian Vineyard; you won’t be disappointed.

This was an enjoyable dual timeline novel set in England and Italy's Veneto region. In modernday England, Kate, still reeling from her recent divorce, receives a gift from her great-grandmother ... a 1930s bottle of Amarone wine. In the box, Kate discovers a letter from "B". On a trip to a vineyard outside of Verona, she begins to unearth secrets from her family's past. The story alternates between the contemporary tale and a storyline in 1939, in which Lady Charlotte ventures to Verona following her husband's tragic death. That visit will change the course of her life. This enjoyable tale mixes family secrets, women finding their place in the world and romance, with the vineyards of Italy's Veneto region as an appealing backdrop. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy - all thoughts are my own.

I love Anita's writing. Smooth and evocative and lots of luscious descriptions. I liked the mystery of this one - from a dusty wine bottle comes a family secret. dual time line in the vein of lucinda riley . Really enjoyed the family dynamics and the two time periods . Who would have thought Verona would be so interesting?

Thanks to @Netgalley and @Bookouture for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Italian Vineyard is a dual timeline novel that shares the story of three generations of an English family and their connection to an Italian vineyard. Beginning with Lady Charlotte set in the 1930's in the early days of WWII, she visits her cousin after the death of her husband and falls in love with the beautiful vineyards and grapes of Italy, while discovering a second chance of finding true love really exists. Lady Charlotte travels with her head gardener, Albert to check out the pinot grigio that is produced on her cousin's vineyard with hopes of bringing some back for the estate.

In the "modern day", we meet Kate, Lady Charlotte's great-granddaughter, whose marriage has failed shortly after her mother dies. On Kate's 30th birthday, her great grandmother gifts her with an old Amarone wine, inside the box is a mysterious note signed "B" and an airline ticket to the Italian Vineyard in Verona. After a chance meeting with Ben, the new head gardener of her father's estate, Kate embarks on a journey to learn who this "B" was to her Granny and uncovers interesting details of the past.

While the plot was transparent and the reader is not left with many surprises, Chapman does a wonderful job weaving the generations together, building enduring and heart-warming characters that left me smiling. If you are looking for a light-hearted romance with a light historical fiction plot, do not leave this one on the shelf as it meets the need very well. And bonus if you are a lover of Italian wines!!

#TheItalianVineyard #NetGalley #historicalfiction #womeninfiction #Italianwines #dualtimelinefiction

I really enjoyed The Italian Vineyard. The story jumps between past and present, which kept things interesting, and the setting in Italy was gorgeous. Kate and Ben’s story felt real and emotional without being over the top. It’s the kind of book that pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading. If you like family secrets, romance, and a bit of history all mixed together, this one’s worth picking up. Thanks, NetGalley!

Lady Charlotte was married off by her father to a man she didn’t love. After her husband’s unexpected death, she sets her heart on turning around her home, Copeley Park, in the Surrey Hills.

With the help of head gardener, Albert, they travel to Verona, to Charlotte’s cousin’s vineyard, with a plan to bring back cuttings so that they can start making wine back in England. It’s 1939, and with the threat of war looming, can their plans take off?

NOW: Kate doesn’t come home to Copeley Park often. Since the death of her mother, she finds the memories difficult. After her great grandmother asks her to visit, Kate learns a little more about Lady Charlotte, and her grandmother wants her to visit Verona after the struggles she’s been through lately. A chance encounter with the head gardener, Ben, leaves Kate flustered.

The author has weaved her magic with this beautifully told story. The dual timeline leads the reader on an adventure in England as well as Verona.

I was invested in the characters and fell in love with them, they were likeable and all looked out for each other.

The setting in Verona was romantic and the descriptive writing meant that I could see the setting in my head. I found myself emotional at times and there were a few instances where I shed happy as well as sad tears.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I will always be a sucker for a book where past and present intertwine. This book really took me by surprise! It turned out to be the best summer read and I devoured it by the pool. Loved the characters and, while there were some times where it lulled for a brief moment, I was immediately sucked right back in. Would definitely recommend!!

All roads lead to Verona. Chapman uses Kate to tell the story of her grandmother Lady Charlotte, a woman who was married to a horrible man but who made a big leap to Italy and a vineyard until the war intervened. Kate's had a tough go so the bottle of Amarone is the impetus she needs to set off to find out the truth of Charlotte. Of course there's a somewhat tragic romance and a happy one as well. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Wow, what a story! I, honestly, knew nothing about the book when I requested the arc, but I’m so glad I did!

First of all, I loved the dual timeline, the stories of two women with about 80 years between them, amazing!
Secondly, the setting? An Italian vineyard and a family estate in the UK? It cannot get any better.

A very emotional read, heartbreaking at times, but so very beautiful also! You just can’t put it down, from the beginning till the last pages💚

I really enjoyed this book, a dual timeline looking at Charlotte's life - a forced marriage in 1939, and her great granddaughter Kate .

Charlotte's father had risen through the ranks, and was new money rich - sometimes not always accepted in society due to his background, he finds a marriage for his daughter Charlotte who would become a countess... however the marriage is a disaster, Winston is a lot older (she is his third wife), a drunk and a womaniser.

Kate recently divorced, her mother died a few years earlier, and her father is now engaged to a lady just 5 years older than Kate....

For her 30th Birthday, Charlotte gives to Kate a bottle of 1937 Amarone wine from her visit to an Italian vineyard in 1939. Kate finds a note.... and tries to find the secrets behind it!

Kate and her great grandmother Charlotte's story are told as dual POV as their lives and loves lead down similar paths. Charlotte is newly married to a drunk almost 30 years her senior who is only looking for a son to be heir. Kate is floundering in life after her mother dies and grasping at anything to keep her afloat until reality sinks that raft. Caught a crossroads, this is both their stories to figure out their lives. I enjoyed the scene setting and descriptions as it made me want to visit and experience it myself.

oh the cover. the writing. the plot. i was swept away. i felt and still feel a little emotional of just what this book did to me and for me. i want this book with its own light show on a shelf somewhere. it was a simple triumph of a book!
some books go above and beyond brilliant. some books hit different. some books you just dont know how are as good as they are but you feel so lucky that authors write such words, such beauty such stories and all for us.
Anita needs every praise and all the praise and hope her agent has organised a 12 million book deal for her( well for us really).
i adored Lady Charlotte. she was such a lovely character and i empathised with her so much, and i also loved how down the timelines her own granddaughter had the same spirit and lovely way about her.
we are taken with these beautiful woman from the UK all the way to the city of Verona with love and vineyards and decisions of hardship all rolled in to our dual timeline book.
Kate is our character of the present. shes not feeling to good in herself or life. her relationship is over and she isn't getting on so well within her own family. but a chance bottle of wine from her grandmother peeks her interest and sets her on a journey that could change everything and uncover so much.
because in the other timeline we do meet her grandmother Charlotte in her younger years. all isn't sitting well within her own life either. not with love. not with life. these are very different times so whats woman to do? she takes up gardening and starts getting along well with her knowledgeable gardener. but then her husband suddenly passes and shes left with all sort of troubles and feelings. its then that she takes time and travels to her family in Italy. and its there that her light truly shines and heart truly opens. but will war and what we are meant to do put paid to her own happiness and future?
and this is how we get to know both their stories and how they all brilliant come and arc together seamlessly.
everything about this story found my every emotion. the themes throughout all touched upon with the justice and tenderness they deserve. its also not one to shy away from some of the harder more raw aspects but never to overwhelm you or the story.
this book is wonderful. totally and utterly wonderful.

This book really surprised me. Our Nana, who we were really close with, grew up in Italy and always said, “Cin Cin” when clinking glasses together in “cheers”. We grew up with a strong love of both Italy and Wine.

This book is a beautiful combination of historical fiction and romance. The viewpoints alternate between Kate (present day), and her great grandmother “Lady Charlotte” in the 1930s. While they both reside in England, they embark on trips (at separate points in time) to an Italian Vineyard owned by Charlotte’s cousin. There are also references to the love story of Romeo and Juliette throughout. There are so many parallels between these two women’s lives. I don’t want to give too much away, so you will find out what those parallels entail when you read it!

Our own mother passed away when we were 18 and the character, Kate, keeps trying to find ways to remember her late mother, as we strived to do after passing. In addition, Kate struggles to connect with her father’s new wife (as we did). You also can’t help but empathize with Kate as she strives to find purpose in her life after an unsuccessful marriage.

I officially want to go on a huge trip to Italy. The way the author described the landscape and culture in Italy was breathtaking. I wish we, as Americans, had more culture! This was easily a 5 star read for me, and I don’t give those lightly!

Here are some quotes that drew me in:

“I’d walked into a Hallmark movie. All that needed to happen now was for Ben to put on a red-and-white lumberjack shirt and go outside and chop some wood. And then he’d come back inside all sweaty and take the shirt off and wipe his forehead with it - before taking me in his arms. I chuckled to myself at this vision.”

“…our eyes met in the candlelight. Then he cupped my face, ever so gently, and pressed his lips to mine, and it was the most exquisite kiss I’d ever experiences in my entire life.”

“…was the only man I ever truly loved, and it was a love one dreams of. So pure, so simple. It’s difficult to explain. When we were together, I felt that I was the version of myself I wanted to be. No one else had ever made me feel like that before.”

What is not to like about a book that involves Italy and a vineyard. I dived right into this book and loved the dual timeline aspect going form the story of Kate and her family secrets and past history. Will Kate find what she is looking for when she decides to go to Italy? This is one of those books/stories that will draw you right in to the pages and to a beautiful part of the world.

It is a captivating and moving story, which involves love, betrayal, family secrets, heart-break and so much more. The author does a wonderful job of portraying not only the story but the surroundings and the beauty of Italy as well. A wonderfully brilliant read and one I just couldn't put down (and didn't want to put down).

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A stunning book of love, betrayal and second chances that takes the reader across time and locations. Vivid in its description, Verona is the new Italian town I am now fascinated with. A poignant read well worth the time.

#netgalley #TheItalianVineyard

One of those books that will always stick with you once you’ve read it. It’s been days and I still can’t get this breathtaking story out of my head. I honestly don’t think there are words adequate enough to describe how hard I fell for this book and the beautiful story it holds!

This is my first book from this author but definitely not my last. Anita Chapman is able to evoke a lot of emotion and atmosphere through her words. I’ve been trying to find a book that does a great job balancing story vs. romance and I found this one did it well! I will say, I did feel more invested in the present day story than the past. If you want to take a trip to sun soaked Italy and fall in love- this one is for you!