Pandora's Bottle

General Fiction, Cooking, Food & Wine

By Joanne Lessner

Publisher : Flint Mine Press

ABOUT Joanne Lessner

Joanne Lessner
Joanne is the author of Pandora’s Bottle, a novel inspired by the true story of the world’s most expensive bottle of wine (Flint Mine Press, 2010), which was selected as one of Paperback Dolls’ top five books of 2010. The Temporary Detective (Dulcet Press, April 2012) introduces Isob More...

Description

  • What happens when you pin your hopes on a single event … and it all goes terribly wrong?
  • Lonely, middle-aged financier Sy Hampton is obsessed with a legendary bottle of Bordeaux once owned by Thomas Jefferson, which, through a quirk of preservation, may yet be drinkable. After spending half a million dollars on it at auction, he disappoints the wine community by choosing to uncork it privately with a female companion, rather than share it at a public event. But this decision has drastic consequences—not only for Sy, but also for a determined waiter on the verge of his long-awaited Broadway debut, and an ambitious restaurateur who can't resist an opportunity for much-needed publicity. Their competing agendas are not the only things to collide on that fateful night.

What happens when you pin your hopes on a single event … and it all goes terribly wrong? Lonely, middle-aged financier Sy Hampton is obsessed with a legendary bottle of Bordeaux once owned by Thomas Jefferson, which, through a quirk of preservation, may yet be drinkable. After spending half a million dollars on it at auction, he disappoints the wine community by choosing to uncork it privately with a female companion, rather than share it at a public event. But this decision has drastic consequences—not only for Sy, but also for a determined waiter on the verge of his long-awaited Broadway debut, and an ambitious restaurateur who can't resist an opportunity for much-needed publicity. Their competing agendas are not the only things to collide on that fateful night.

One of Paperback Dolls' Top Five Books of 2010!

Pandora's Bottle is as delicious as a vintage Château Lafite and almost as rare—a novel that is as entertaining as it is smart. Joanne Sydney Lessner serves it with just the right dish of human folly.”
—Marc Acito, author of How I Paid for College and Attack of the Theater People

“Lessner has served up a bubbly, big-haired and big-hearted opus magnum, redolent of the vanities of New York, with a whiff of Wodehouse and a dash of Dickens, full of raucous overtones but with a gentle finish. Drinkable immediately!”
—Jonathan Levi, author of A Guide for the Perplexed and co-founder of Granta

“Joanne Sydney Lessner has carefully crafted a well-wrought, fun, and fast-paced book detailing the highs and lows of the wine world. A great read.”
—Carlo De Vito, author of East Coast Wineries and 10 Secrets My Dog Taught Me