‘The Shortest Way Home’ a romantic trip through wine country
“THE SHORTEST WAY HOME” by Miriam Parker; (Dutton, 313 pages, $26).
If Miriam Parker’s debut novel were a wine, it would be a super-fizzy Champagne, not a serious, heavy port. OK, that analogy might not work because I know nothing about wine, but Parker does, and her knowledge is splashed liberally through this romantic novel.
Set in wine country around Sonoma, “The Shortest Way Home” is told by Hannah, a young woman about to graduate from college and head to a lucrative Goldman Sachs job in New York. But during a getaway weekend in wine country with her almost-fiancé, Ethan, she visits a historic, down-onits-heels winery and surprises everyone — especially herself — by impulsively giving up New York, putting Ethan on the back burner and taking a marketing job at the winery.
This is a romance, but it’s also about a young woman finding herself, figuring out the difference between what she wants to do with her life and what others want. Things unfold at a rather breakneck speed — job offers within minutes, romances kindling with a few smoldering glances — but gorgeous weather, tempting wines, the handsome vintner’s son and, yes, the resident dog all make for a charming weekend read.