Discussion Questions 1
Blush focuses on the relationship among
mothers, daughters, and granddaughters. Think
6
Day-to-day life at the vineyard revolves
around the vinifying of grapes into wine. Were you
about the women in your own life, family or
already familiar with the functions of a vineyard?
otherwise. How have they influenced you? What
Was there anything specific about the process of
have you learned from your relationship with them?
wine production that you found surprising?
2
7
The Hollander Estates Winery is integral to
the Hollander family legacy. In what ways do each
How do the generational differences
among Vivian, Leah, and Sadie play out in their
of the family members have a different connection
interpretations of the novels they read together?
to the vineyard? How does it differ between
Based on their conversations, do you think the
generations? What about between siblings Leah
bestsellers from the 1980s hold up today? Why,
and Asher?
or why not?
3
8
At the start of the summer, Leah finds herself
at a crossroads both in her career and in her
Vivian’s stress over potentially losing the
vineyard was exacerbated by her guilt over the
marriage to Steven. How did her time at the
past. What role does forgiveness play in this
vineyard help her to move forward? Have you ever
story—both of oneself and of others?
found yourself at a similar turning point?
9
4
Have you read Chances, Scruples, or Lace
One of the main themes of Blush is “when
women gather, there is power.” What are
before? What about other works by Jackie Collins,
some places where this happens? Why do you
Judith Krantz, and Shirley Conran? If so, what is
think these traditionally female spaces are so
your memory of reading them?
important? Do you belong to any?
5
10
Sadie finally begins to grow into herself and
become a more confident, well-rounded person throughout the course of the novel. What do you think are some factors in her evolution? Her relationship with Mateo, her writing, the book club?
What do you think is next for Vivian, Leah,
and Sadie? What about Hollander Estates?
A Conversation with
Jamie Brenner W H AT I N S P I RE D YOU TO W RI T E BLU S H? Blush is the novel I’ve wanted to write my entire life. It’s an ode to novels I read secretly as a young teenager, books by Jackie Collins and Judith Krantz that I had to sneak into my house. I used to check them out of the library along with “appropriate” books, and then I’d swap out the dust jackets when I got to my room! The heroines in these books whispered truths about life and love and womanhood that,
©
as a whole, have influenced me more than any real person. KA
TH
LE
EN
O'D
Anne Tyler said, “I read because I want to live more than ONNE
LL
one life in more than one place.” For me, I’ve read because I wanted more than one mother, more than one best friend. Jackie Collins and Judith Krantz wrote daring stories about bold women who did naughty things, women who sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed but were all going for something. I learned so much from these books, and yet they were books I would never discuss with my boss at work, or my author friends. Until one day I did mention them in a very literary crowd, and the response I got was surprising: everyone piped up with their own nostalgia for these books. I thought, what if a new generation of women was introduced to them? What if, let’s say, a young woman discovered that her grandmother used to have a book club and this is what the ladies were reading. And what if that young woman resurrected the book club? That was the beginning.
BLU SH IS A MU LTIGEN ERATION AL STORY OF A MOTHER , DAU GHTER , AND G RA NDDAU GHTER— EAC H VERY DIFFE R E NT. IS THERE ON E C HARACT E R YO U R E L AT ED MOST TO?
were shocking for their sexual explicitness, and
Out of the three generations, I relate the most to
pleasures” simply if they’re not literary or “serious.”
the mother because we’re at the same stage in
I don’t buy into that. I never have. I was a literature
life—smack-dab in the middle of it all. Like Leah,
major in college, reading John Milton by day and
I’m hovering around age fifty. I have a daughter
Anne Rice at night. I love reading high and low, and
in college, and while I have the joy of seeing the
I get something out of both. I think all readers do.
world through her lens, it also makes it impossible
If Blush is a guilty pleasure, it’s because it’s set at
to deny the fact that I’m no longer young. She
a gorgeous winery over a summer and there’s fun
has endless options in front of her, and I am living
and drama. But at the same time, it’s about family,
within the confines of choices I made at around her
marriage, and what it means to be a woman today.
maybe, to some people, for the fact that the heroines were sexual beings with all sorts of big appetites: for clothes, for success, for men. It’s different today. Books are considered “guilty
age. Leah is suddenly confronted with a decision she made in her early twenties and wondering if it isn’t possible for a redo. I think there is something universal about taking stock midlife.
H OW DOE S T H E CON CE PT OF S USA N SON TAG’S “N OT E S ON ‘CAMP ’ ” P LAY A ROL E I N T H E N OVE L? “Notes on ‘Camp’” gave me a bridge between the generations of women in Blush. My college-
One cheats oneself, as a human being, if one has respect only for the style of high culture, whatever else one may do or feel on the sly. — S USA N S ONTAG, “ N OTE S O N ‘CAMP ’ ”
aged character, Sophie, is a serious writer and intellectual. She’s someone who not only wouldn’t consider a book like Scruples a “guilty pleasure,” she wouldn’t allow herself to consider it a pleasure at all! When she shows up at her family’s winery, she’s struggling with her thesis based on Susan Sontag. Meanwhile, her mother wants her to join what she sees as a trashy novel book club. Here’s where Susan Sontag comes in: she was the first
WHAT D O YOU FEEL MAKE S A BOOK A “GUILT Y PL EASU RE” READ? IN WH AT WAYS IS BLUSH A “GU ILT Y PLEASU RE ” N OV E L? IN WHAT WAYS IS IT N OT ?
intellectual to break down the boundaries between
The books that inspired me—Scruples by Judith
whatever else one may do or feel on the sly.” She
Krantz and Chances by Jackie Collins—were literally guilty pleasures when I read them, because I had to hide them from my parents. The books
high and low culture. She writes in “Notes on ‘Camp’”: “One cheats oneself, as a human being, if one has respect only for the style of high culture, gives Sophie permission to indulge in novels she never before would have considered reading, and this opens up a new connection between Sophie and her mother and grandmother.
THE R E A R E MAN Y FEMIN IST THEME S AND UND E RTON E S WITHIN BLUSH. WHICH D O YOU FEEL ARE MOST I M PO RTA NT FOR WOMEN TO TAKE AWAY WHE N READIN G?
W H Y DI D YOU WAN T TO PAY H OM AG E TO “ T RAS H Y N OVE L S” AN D T H E GRE ATS L I K E JACK I E COL L I N S A ND JU DI T H K RAN TZ?
One of the lessons it took me a very long time
Their stories opened up my idea of the world, of
to learn in life was to stop asking permission. As
what life could be. I moved to New York City in my
a child of the seventies, I was raised to be nice,
twenties to live like one of Judith Krantz’s heroines.
polite, and pretty. The grandmother in this story,
Before Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, there
Vivian, was raised the same, and this limited life
was Maxi Amberville in I’ll Take Manhattan. I
road map creates problems for her. Leah maybe
wanted to have that conversation with my readers.
These authors inspired me to become a novelist.
had a bit more latitude, but she ultimately gave
she is closed off to wisdom that might come from
DI D YOU S P E N D T I ME RE S E ARCH I NG W I N E RI E S FOR T H E N OVE L? I S TH E R E A RE AL- L I F E N ORT H FORK W I N ERY T H AT I N S P I RE D YOU ?
unexpected sources. So for me, true feminism
I knew next to nothing about wine when I
is being unapologetic about your wants—sexual,
embarked on this story. There was a big learning
professional, romantic, familial. That’s the first step
curve. I took wine and cheese classes at Murray’s
to meeting your needs, to being happy. That is
down in the village to learn about wine pairings.
what I want women to take away from this book.
I read books like The Vineyard by Louisa Thomas
up on her dream—wouldn’t even fully admit her life dream to herself—because her father wouldn’t allow it. And Sophie is so strictly feminist that
Hargrave, who was a pioneer of the North Fork
WHAT IS YOU R FAVORITE HIN T OF ’8 0s NOSTA LGIA SPRIN KLED WITH I N BLU SH?
wineries in the 1970s. I got my wine vocabulary
The characters reference ’80s television, and I am
best research is always hands-on, and I was
so nostalgic for the outrageously glamorous and
fortunate to have a friend running the acclaimed
dramatic prime time shows. While Jackie Collins
Bedell Cellars in Cutchogue. I was able to speak to
was writing about gutsy women in her novels, her
the great winemaker Rich Olsen-Harbich, who has
sister, Joan, was playing the ultimate dame in Alexis
thirty years of winemaking under his belt and is an
Carrington Colby on Dynasty. It was all so big: big
innovator for sustainability. I spent a day walking
gowns, big hair, big jewels. And then there were the
the fields with vineyard manager Donna Rudolph,
mini-series based on juicy novels: The Thorn Birds.
who just won Grape Grower of the Year by the
North and South. Lace. Oh, I miss the days when
New York Wine & Grape Foundation. I had no
TV was an event, and everyone was tuned in for
idea that even red grapes start out green and go
something like Lace, and Phoebe Cates utters the
through a process called veraison to change color.
iconic line, “Which one of you bitches is my mother?”
I didn’t know that wild turkeys can swallow grape
It doesn’t get any better than that.
clusters whole—like a pelican. And I learned about
from the books of the great wine critic Lettie Teague, who wrote Wine in Words. But yes, the
Bedell’s unique harvest-time tradition that plays a
drama, the endless font of inspiration for me.
big part in Blush.
And it features strong women and spans multiple generations. It still unfolds over the course of a
ON T HE 4 0th AN N IVERSARY OF JACK I E COL L INS’S CHANCES, WHAT DO YOU FE E L IS ST ILL RELEVAN T TODAY?
single summer. It has romantic entanglements.
Forty years after this novel was published, women
the books and pop culture moments that give me
still face a sexual double standard. Women still
so much happiness. And conceptualizing a novel is
have to work twice as hard to be in positions of
always my favorite part; it’s all about possibilities—
power. Women of color are still more likely to be
much the way life is when you’re young. That’s what
victims of violence, including domestic violence. Of
planning a novel is for me—the teenage years of the
course, people still love clothes. We love celebrity.
creative process.
Blush was my favorite novel to conceptualize because I had an excuse to take a deep dive into
Sex makes the world go round. And we continue to be fascinated by the very rich. In these ways, Chances is timeless.
W H AT WOU L D YOU S U GGE ST AS A W I N E AN D CH E E S E PAI RI N G TO ACCOMPAN Y A B OOK CLU B GAT H E RI N G FOR BLU S H? Rosé (a wine I learned came about essentially
For me, true feminism is being unapologetic about your wants—sexual, professional, romantic, familial. That’s the first step to meeting your needs, to being happy.
by accident) plays a big role in this story, so we’d have to start with that. Fortunately, rosé pairs with almost anything. I’d recommend Kunik, a triple cream cheese I was introduced to at a Murray’s Cheese shop class. It’s tangy and buttery and just about the most incredible thing I’ve ever tasted. Talk about guilty pleasure!
H OW WAS WRITIN G B LUSH SIMILA R TO, OR D IFFE R EN T FROM, WRITIN G YOU R PR EV IO US NOVELS? DO YOU HAVE A FAVOR IT E PART OF THE WRITIN G PROCE S S?
W H AT ’S N E XT FOR YOU ?
Writing Blush was different from writing my
how the price of ownership is often misfortune. It
previous novels because it was driven by my love
has the hallmarks of my books: multigenerational,
for other authors’ work. It was colored by nostalgia
family secrets, a summer setting, and romance. The
for the art and style of the 1970s and 1980s, and
curve ball this time is a possible diamond curse. At
it forced me to reach outside the world and
the very least, it features jewelry that any Jackie
characters I create to bring in something larger.
Collins heroine would be proud to wear.
But at the same time, it still focuses on family
I’m working on a new book centered around a family that made its fortune in the diamond trade. I’m fascinated by the world’s famous diamonds that are so beautiful it seems a crime to own them, and
Make Your Own Cheeseboard! QUICK W INE AN D C HEE SE PAIRI N G S : Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay + Smoked gouda Prosecco and Pinot Grigio + Parmesan Merlot and Beaujolais + Brie Sauvignon Blanc and Provençal Rosé + Goat cheese Tempranillo and Rioja Blanco + Manchego
Know Your Rosé ZI N FAN DE L – T H E B LUS H W I NE Very pink, very sweet Flavors of lemon and strawberry
P ROVE N C E Fresh, crisp, dry Fruity and light
GRE N ACH E
The Five S ’s of Wine Tasting SEE Examine the color and clarity of the wine.
SWIRL Pay attention to whether the wine is heavy or light. SN IF F The main sense used in wine tasting. Get an idea of the “nose,” aka the bouquet and aroma of the wine. SIP Sip for 3 to 5 seconds and pay attention to the “mouthfeel.” SAVO R Determine the “finish.” Enjoy.
Full-bodied Bright cherry flavor
SAN GI OVE S E Bold, flavorful Hints of red fruit and spices
SYRAH Deep color, bold and rich Notes of spices and strawberry