 |
All The Singing
by Tim Holmes
‘So much for capitalism … and successive governments have failed us … so no surprises that people are nostalgic for our communist past.’
Londoner, Jock Stansfeld, on a professional wine buying trip behind the Iron Curtain to Hungary, finds himself enchanted by the mournful folk songs and operatic arias performed by his translator.
Drawn together by a passion for wine, song and politics, Jock and Lili keep in touch, and eventually cast aside their incompatible ambitions and disparate lifestyles to find love across the great divide of western and eastern Europe, where the constraints and challenges of post-Cold War Hungary contrast with the gilded lifestyle of southern France, where Jock eventually settles to make wine.
A story of love and tragedy, of lives muddied by conflicting emotions and split loyalties, where unexpected events, and the politics and economic travails of the age tarnish those who strive the hardest and deserve more, but often achieve the least, and suffer the most.
‘All the Singing’ is a semi-autobiographical tale spanning two generations, set in beautiful places where they grow grapes and make award-winning wines, where love and desire weave in and out of the highs and lows of everyday lives, pockmarked by shattered dreams, dashed hopes, and unfulfilled expectations.
Tim Holmes was born in London and brought up in Geneva, eventually embarking on a thirty-five year career in the international wine industry, having learned his craft in Bordeaux and Burgundy as a ‘stagiare’ winemaker during university vacations. After a lifetime of travel, tasting and trading wines around the world, he now lives in France and England where he writes, and opens the odd bottle for friends.
