Books & Authors
The California Wife by Kristen Harnisch 5-1-16

Author Kristen Harnisch to Speak at DCA Annual Meeting Thursday

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At this year’s Darien Community Association’s Annual Meeting on Thursday, May 19, at 9:30 a.m., Kristen Harnisch will celebrate the launch of her second historical novel, The California Wife. In The California Wife, Harnisch’s sweeping, poignant stand-alone sequel to The Vintner’s Daughter, the Lemieux family’s ambition to establish an American winemaking dynasty takes Sara and Philippe from pastoral Napa, to the Paris World’s Fair and into the heart of early 20th-century San Francisco. _________

— UPDATE: The full slate of nominated candidates up for election at the annual meeting is listed now at the end of this article. _________

Kristen Harnisch drew upon her extensive research and her experiences living in San Francisco and visiting the Napa Valley, the Loire Valley and Paris to create the story for The California Wife and her first novel, The Vintner’s Daughter. __________

— an announcement from the Darien Community Association

__________

Ms. Harnisch is an internationally-published author who has a degree in economics from Villanova University and currently resides in Darien with her husband and three children.

Books & Authors
Kristen Harnisch The California Wife 5-1-16

Darien Author Kristen Harnisch’s Second Novel Comes Out May 10

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Two years after the successful publication of her first historical novel, “The Vintner’s Daughter,” Kristen Harnisch of Darien is coming out with the sequel, “The California Wife,” and she says it’s been a different writing experience. “It took me 14 years to write the first book,” Harnisch said, and she was learning how to do it along the way, and largely independently, until the book was sold to a publisher. “This time, it’s taken me 18 months, with the help of a great editing team at HarperCollins.” Harnisch said she’s grateful to a lot of people and organizations for helping make the initial book a success, and they’ve helped to make this book a smoother ride. The Darien Community Association is hosting a talk by Harnisch and a book signing at the association’s annual meeting at 9:30 a.m. on May 19, which is open to the public.

Books & Authors
Kristen Harnisch

How Darienite Kristen Harnisch Got Her Novel Published

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Kristen Harnisch had written her first novel, “The Vintner’s Daughter” and had started sending it to publishers and literary agents and got rejection letter after rejection letter. But that turned around. By chance, a friend put her in touch with a literary agent who lived in California wine country (where much of the novel takes place), was interested in wine and often went to France (where much of the rest of the novel takes place). Here’s how Harnisch, now working on her third novel and expecting her second to be published next March, described the ups and downs of getting her first one published. She talked about getting her novel researched and written (covered in Darienite.com’s first article in this two-part series) as well as published in a talk last month at the Darien Library Association’s annual meeting.

Books & Authors
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How a Darienite Came to Write Her First Published Novel

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Kristen Harnisch got the idea for her novel, “The Vintner’s Daughter” on a trip to the Loire Valley in France, just after she and her husband moved to Darien. “I had one of those moments when I was standing on the edge of a Vouvray [a village] vineyard where I just got the goosebumps because it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen,” Harnisch recalled when speaking at the Darien Library annual meeting on Oct. 17. “I just started thinking to myself, ‘You know, this would be the perfect setting for the novel that I’d always secretly wanted to write.'”

So she did. Although it wasn’t simple or easy or quick.

Darien Library
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Darien Library Annual Meeting Features Darien Author Kristen Harnisch

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The Friends of the Darien Library cordially invite you to the Annual Meeting. Join us in the Louise Parker Berry Community Room Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.

Kristen Harnisch, author of The Vintner’s Daughter, will be our featured speaker. Kristen will discuss how Darien Library helped her transition from banker, to stay-at-home mom, to debut novelist. The Vintner’s Daughter was honored by Readers’ Favorite earlier this month with the Bronze award in their “Historical Fiction – Personage” category.

Books & Authors
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Darien Library Annual Meeting Features Darien Author Kristen Harnisch

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Download PDF

The Friends of the Darien Library cordially invite you to the Annual Meeting. Join us in the Louise Parker Berry Community Room Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.

Kristen Harnisch, author of The Vintner’s Daughter, will be our featured speaker. Kristen will discuss how Darien Library helped her transition from banker, to stay-at-home mom, to debut novelist. ____________

An announcement from Darien Library

____________

The Vintner’s Daughter was honored by Readers’ Favorite earlier this month with the Bronze award in their “Historical Fiction – Personage” category.