Inside Wine Country
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Graduation Year
2020
Writing Track
Fiction
Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Program
Creative Writing
Program Director
Judy Halebsky, PhD
First Reader
Thomas Burke, MFA
Second Reader
Joan Baranow, PhD
Description
Inside Wine Country, debut novel of Kathleen Chance, will situate you in the early nineties in an upscale enclave of Northern California, whose inhabitants pursue the “wine country lifestyle” with passion and perfectionism. Beautiful homes, fine wines, elegant parties, raising perfect children—Carla and Patrick Malloy are caught up in it all, family histories of alcoholism left tidily in the past as if carpeted over by an immaculately tended vineyard. Unexpectedly, the root of addiction springs forth in their young adult son, Keith, which sets off the unraveling of their idyllic life. In seeking a path forward, each comes under influences both outside and internal: temptation, jealousy, recovery, relapse, ultimately leading to newfound terroir for all as this upper middle class family attempts to reconcile a utopian fantasy with their own reality.