The Widow Clicquot

Joan of Arc and Madame Clicquot were the two women heroes I knew when growing up in France. What a gift to have this new, well-researched biography of one of the world's first `legitimate' businesswoman, our contemporary as a global business leader. -- Mireille Guiliano, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller, French Women Don't Get Fat The Widow Clicquot is someone we should all know about.... Long a shadowy, legend-obscured figure, in Tilar Mazzeo's agile hands the widow sheds her weeds and takes form before our eyes as a distinctly modern entrepreneur....The result is narrative history that fizzes with life and feeling. -- Benjamin Wallace, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Billionaire's Vinegar Told in a light and graceful style that is just right for its subject.... [I]t's a fascinating trip, made even more so by Ms. Mazzeo's charming cameo appearances as a kind of tour guide.... This example of Barbe-Nicole's voice is exceptional...an intoxicating business biography. -- Julia Flynn Siler, The Wall Street Journal The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo's sweeping oenobiography of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, is the story of a woman who was a smashing success long before anyone conceptualized the glass ceiling. -- New York Times Book Review Mazzeo's resulting book is an enticing stew of biography and history. -- USA Today If you like champagne, The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo is definitely worth a drink. -- Lisa Ko, author of <em>The Leavers</em> Tilar J. Mazzeo's informed and enlightening biography of Madame Clicquot, the widow and, more important, the businesswoman, retrieves her vintage story as if looking for a rare bottle in one of the Champagne region's deepest caves. -- Newsday This book is full of fascinating morsels of information. -- Canberra Times The Widow Clicquot is a miraculous feat of organization, one worthy of a doctoral thesis.... [I]n its moments of action, this is actually a gripping story. And while the book appears to be a feminist history/business biography, it's also the appealing story of the author's odyssey. -- Austin Chronicle Mazzeo's tale moves swiftly through Barbe-Nicole's many accomplishments, including her method for storing bottles nose-down-an innovation that allowed the second fermentation detritus to be cleared efficiently, setting her far ahead of her competitors. -- Los Angeles Times