Hotel Lovers, We’ve Got Your New Favorite Read

Contributed By Kayla Douglas

When it comes to finding the perfect vacation book, the best beach reads are equal parts intoxicating and transportive – A Perfect Vintage is just that.

A story centered on taking risks in the name of love – even if it means threatening to break the bonds that mean most to us – is a romcom fan’s paradise. But set the scene for an age-defying relationship and emotionally-fueled inheritance drama at a hotel, and you’ve crafted the dream plot for anyone with a penchant for THE IDEA OF YOU meets The White Lotus. A PERFECT VINTAGE by Chelsea Fagan has done just that, and makes for your perfect beach read – ideally lapped up while lazing by the pool, Sancerre in hand. Just a few chapters into this scintillating read and you’ll be immersed into the world of Lea Mortimer, a sought-after hospitality and design consultant who specializes in transforming French country estates into boutique hotels. On her latest project in the Loire Valley, she finds herself (and her plus ones, her cousin and her cousin’s daughter) intertwined with an aristocratic family who’ve enlisted her to help transform their dilapidated château into a working vineyard and luxury hotel.

We couldn’t picture a better spot to read this than on your own trip to central France, perhaps at Les Sources de Cheverny or the yet-to-open Six Senses Loire Valley at Les Bordes. But even if you don’t (yet) have a France trip on the docket, fret not; this unfurling of French family traditions and the defying of notions around age and power will have you feeling like you’re right next to the characters weaving through the vineyards in the heart of wine country. For those of us who appreciate what goes on in the back-of-house just as much as we relish buttery sheets in thoughtfully appointed suites, you’ll fall in love with the story of this estate and the people who are behind it being brought back to life.

But you’re a sophisticated traveler, and you want to learn more about what this country is, who makes it, and who lays a claim to its story.

Without spoiling too much, a simple passage extracted from Fagan’s hotel chef, a French woman of Moroccan heritage with visions of bringing Maghrebi cuisine to the Loire Valley, paints a picture of what you can expect in this narrative of cultural immersion. As she puts it, while presenting her first proposed menu to the hotel owners, “France is already turning out to be better than you’d hoped. The food is delicious, the history is rich, and the countryside is beautiful. And if you were to stop at just the tour guide version, the Eiffel Tower and the macarons and the old-school Loire Valley vineyards, that would be fine. But you’re a sophisticated traveler, and you want to learn more about what this country is, who makes it, and who lays a claim to its story. So you come to this hotel, designed by the chic, world-famous LeMor Consulting…”

We were lucky enough to sit down with author Chelsea Fagan to learn more about her approach to her debut novel. Below you’ll find a condensed recap of our conversation.

Kayla Douglas: Tell us a bit more about your creative process.

I enjoy writing in hotel lobbies and bars; I love the vibe in luxury hotels.

Chelsea Fagan: I wrote the novel here in New York City for the most part. I enjoy writing in hotel lobbies and bars; I love the vibe in luxury hotels. Here in the city, I love The Whitby Hotel in Midtown or The Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side for some of the best people-watching. The EDITION Times Square is nearby my office and somehow their lobby manages to make you not feel like you’re in Times Square at all. As a brand, The EDITION’s signature scent [a collaboration with Le Labo] is one of my favorites. Downtown, The Roxy is a great spot to work from too!

In total, the book took me eleven weeks to write and about six months to edit with the team I assembled. I published A PERFECT VINTAGE under my own imprint and part of the reason was that I wanted to have total creative control. For example, the cover art is an original oil painting I commissioned from an artist I love. Creatively, it was an absolute adventure and pleasure.

KD: What inspired you to write your debut fiction novel, A PERFECT VINTAGE?

CF: Well, I grew up speaking French. I lived in France for several years and met my husband twelve years ago when I was living over there. I’m very familiar with and integrated into French culture. Some of my husband’s family actually works in wine, so I’ve come to understand the logistics of it. So for me, it was an easy jumping-off point. I talk about money for my job [as co-founder of The Financial Diet] all day every day and I love it, but I was ready to do something more purely escapist.

KD: When advising friends and family about trips to La Belle France, what are some of your go-to foodie tips, no matter where in the country they’re headed?

CF: I have a few rules that I always advise travelers to France to stick to, beginning with never eating at a place with a translated menu out front. From there, nothing is worth a line; any time you see a line snaking around a place, I generally think you could do something more worthwhile with your valuable leisure time than wait. Also, food-related, try at least a couple of restaurants that aren’t offering traditional French food, but types of cuisine that you may not have as much access to in the States. For instance, in my book, a lot of the characters are North African or Middle Eastern and the cuisine at the hotel where the book is set is North African. If I’m in France, especially in the South of France, I always want to get tagine and couscous. In Paris, there’s also incredible Lebanese, Vietnamese, and Cambodian food.

In general, I advise always making time to do the outdoor markets. Have a day where you go to the market in the morning, get a bit of everything, go to a beautiful park, sit by the river or another nice spot outside, and maybe get a bottle of wine. Lean into the quality of food at the French markets because that’s something we don’t have as much access to in the States.

KD: You could have chosen anywhere in the world to set A PERFECT VINTAGE. Why did you choose the Loire Valley?

CF: Two things: firstly, I wanted it to be far from where my husband’s family is from in the southwest of France! And secondly, the book is centered around social class and aristocracy. The family who owns the château where the book takes place lives in the suburbs of Paris and if they were going to commit to taking over this hotel project, the Loire is really one of the only regions that would make sense logistically.

KD: If you were going to spend a day in the Loire, with Lea, your protagonist, what would your perfect 24 hours there look like?

CF: It would depend on if I met her at the beginning or the end of the book! Let’s assume I met her at the end where she’s open to having a bit more fun…I think we would definitely hit up an open-air market in Orléans or Tours, then do some shopping for vintage furniture, décor, or art. We’d do a long walk or bike ride through wine country before going to one of the smaller towns for a glass of local wine at a château and going for a beautiful dinner somewhere nearby.

KD: How did your knowledge of the nuances of the French language and culture impact your descriptions of your characters and the things they encounter during A PERFECT VINTAGE?

CF: I’m really fatigued by the trope of the idiot American who doesn’t even know how to say hello in a foreign language. I wanted my protagonist’s most defining qualities to be her total competence, knowledge of the region, and expertise, as a refreshing anecdote to Americans being perceived as not making an effort while abroad.

On the flip side, I think French culture is often very misrepresented in foreign media. France is a very diverse country with a huge amount of nuance in food culture, arts, politics, and all of these different aspects of what it means to be French; but the version that often gets exported abroad is basically a France that looks unchanged from WWII–very white, traditional, and centered around a certain kind of aesthetic. For me, I wanted to make sure the France I was portraying is more true to the experiences I’ve had.

KD: How do themes of age, power, and family come together to drive the plot?

CF: The protagonist is twelve years older than the male love interest. A huge part of what interests me about age as it pertains to women is how female beauty, desire, and imagination are often heavily misrepresented as women get older. Other aspects of age play a big role in the book, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but I really wanted the reader to interrogate their own notions of age and what it means for men versus women.

And as far as family, we often have a very sanitized portrait of what the nuclear family looks like and what it should be, and how these people should relate to each other. So I wanted family dynamics to be complicated and messy. But equally, my character’s relationships are poignant and a beautiful representation of what family actually can look like in practice: the good and the bad.

KD: Ultimately, the book is about opening yourself up to the full experience of life. What do you hope readers take away as it relates to vulnerability?

We’re seeing a new, powerful wave of women looking at what it means to live a good life and knowing spontaneity and indulgence are parts of that.

CF: A major theme in the book is people attempting to exert control as a means to prevent tragedy or protect themselves and create stability. I think it will most acutely resonate with women who came of age during the “Girl Boss” era. These women were told their fulfillment should come from work while also being perfect mothers, that they could get the corner office by working sixty hours a week, should have a killer pilates body, look amazing in their designer clothes, and sacrifice a lot of themselves to do it all. I think younger generations of women are starting to reject that notion. Closing ourselves off to vulnerability and exerting perfectionism has been a means of self-preservation to validate these criteria that were given to us. We’re seeing a new, powerful wave of women looking at what it means to live a good life and knowing spontaneity and indulgence are parts of that. For me, sensuality and pleasure are about so much more than sex. They’re about romanticizing and luxuriating in each moment, and I wanted that to be a part of the book.

KD: You’re off to France very soon with an event in Paris for A PERFECT VINTAGE. What’ll be in your carry-on?

CF: So I have to confess, I always check because I go for more extended periods, plus, I leave space for all the French drugstore treasures I’ll bring home! But I always bring good books that I’m reading and clothes that make me feel like myself, even if they are perhaps too colorful for the typical “French girl” aesthetic. Although, I do always come home with lots of clothes from my favorite French brands, so maybe it’s a bit of a wash!

Click here to buy your copy of A PERFECT VINTAGE.