Lush

"What a pleasure to sink into this gorgeous, sensual debut. Never has a novel been more deserving of its title!" -Antonia Angress, author of Sirens & Muses

"A rich, full-bodied reading experience sure to leave readers drunk on Dowden-Lord's prose." -Eliza Clark, author of Boy Parts and Penance

For fans of Sweetbitter and The Bear, an intoxicating debut novel set in the glamorous, exclusive, and unexpectedly raucous world of wine.

Four wine experts, each at a crucial point in their lives, arrive at a French vineyard estate for an unforgettable experience-but not the kind they expected. Avery gave up her hard-won but exploitative sommelier job to come, while wine prodigy Cosmo is trying to disguise that his life is in freefall. The chemistry between the pair is unmistakable, but so are the signs of danger. Millionaire Sonny owns a tacky wine brand and can't help aggravating Cosmo, while caustic magazine writer Maelys hovers with her pen poised.

It seems at first that these four have little in common except for their love of wine and their belief in its transformative power. But, as the quartet awaits the penultimate night of the trip, when they will taste the only bottle of one of the rarest wines in the world, it becomes clear that each of them grapples with a private crisis. Each projects their ultimate hopes and fears onto the contents of this bottle, a bottle rendered divine by age and scarcity.

Unfolding over several days of indulgence in delicious food and drink, raucous debauchery, and transformative truths that will leave each character changed forever, Lush is a sensuous tour of the wine industry's extreme pleasures and pains, a captivating summer read that, like a fine vintage, will linger long after you've finished turning the pages.