The Lady Brewer of London

September 28, 2020
The daughter of a merchant flouts 15th-century English convention to start a brewery in Brooks’s illuminating epic (after The Chocolate Maker’s Wife). At 19, Anneke Sheldrake is devastated when her father’s ship goes missing at sea. His employer, Lord Rainford, agrees to give Anneke six months to come up with the lease money for her home in the village of Elmham Lenn. Anneke uses recipes handed down from her deceased mother, whose family brewed ale, to start a business, but after a fire at the brewery, Anneke flees to London in 1406, where she sets up another brewery, and the next year is reunited with Lord Rainford’s son, Leander Rainford, and tries to avoid the scrutiny of an officer of the crown who unfairly declares her ale substandard, forcing her to dump barrels into the Thames. When Leander helps Anneke get an audience with King Henry to taste her ale, Anneke is hopeful for the continued success of her business. Brooks’s attention to historical detail instills the novel with authenticity by including many historical figures and events, while Anneke’s lively voice keeps a strong grip on the reader as she works to overcome societal prohibitions against women in business and find happiness and contentment. Brooks’s immersive page-turner does not disappoint. Agent: James Frenkel, James Frenkel Assoc.

October 15, 2020
In 1405 England, Anneke Sheldrake, the daughter of a prosperous merchant, finds her family's future uncertain after her father's ship goes down at sea. To save her home, she turns to her late mother's secret recipes for ale and starts her own brewery, much to the ire of the local monastery, whose monks?brewers themselves?view Anneke's activities as a threat. Despite warnings from her brother and servants, Anneke realizes too late the risks she incurs by offending some in her community, and when her brewing operations, family home, and family itself are shattered by a betrayal, she's left to piece together a new life for herself in London, where she gains renown as the Lady Brewer of Southwark and forges an alliance with a local brothel owner. Brooks (The Chocolate Maker's Wife, 2019) has created a cast of likable, interesting characters, including a fiercely determined heroine sure to charm readers. Richly atmospheric, romantic, and chock-full of period details, this fast-paced tale and its many plot twists and turns are likely to keep historical fiction fans riveted.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)