A Novel · May 25, 2027
Some places don’t let you go.
Mira Cardwell came home to sell her family’s vineyard. She didn’t know the vines had been waiting for her. Because what we forget, the land remembers.
Second Place, 2026 Alabama Writers’ Cooperative First Chapter of a Novel Contest
Get launch news, early excerpts, recipes and wine pairings from the book, and the occasional moon phase.
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Early praise for The Vines Remember
“Your descriptions truly transported, and I found myself longing to own a vineyard!”
Melissa M., advance reader
“I really loved this book. It held my interest from start to finish.”
Lisa E., advance reader
“Beautiful turns of phrase. Good story… Needs a movie.”
Milly C., advance reader
Awards & recognition
Second Place, First Chapter of a Novel Contest
Alabama Writers’ Cooperative, 2026
Selected Participant
Women & Words, 2026
The novel
A story of grief, reinvention, and the land that remembers us
Attorney Mira Cardwell came home to California’s Central Coast for one reason: to sell the vineyard she inherited from her late father and get back to the executive life she built, the one she’s no longer sure she wants.
But among the vines, Mira uncovers a legacy passed from mother to daughter, cut short the night her mother died in those same rows. And now the vines seem to whisper her name.
As harvest approaches, so does the choice she can’t keep putting off: walk away for good, or reclaim what she lost before she understood what it was.
Meet the author
Meet Lea
Lea Holland spent 25 years building a successful corporate career. Then she lost both of her parents within ninety days, and the life she’d built started asking questions she couldn’t ignore.
She answered them by unflinchingly looking at her life and priorities, pivoting 180, and choosing to finally write the novel she’d put off for years. The Vines Remember is her debut.
She lives in Chandler, Arizona, with her husband, Robert, and their cat, Charlie.
For book clubs
The Premier Vintage Book Club
Be among the first book clubs to read and discuss The Vines Remember, an atmospheric story of identity, grief, late-in-life love, and the unexpected possibility of beginning again.
Letters from the vineyard
Launch news, early excerpts, recipes and wine pairings from the book, and the occasional moon phase. Never spam.
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