Because what we forget, the land remembers.
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.
Blending women’s fiction, family mystery, romance, and a thread of light speculative intrigue, The Vines Remember is an atmospheric story of identity, grief, late-in-life love, and the unexpected possibility of beginning again.
- Publication date: May 25, 2027
- Formats: Print, eBook, and audiobook
- Preorders: Open March 2027
Early praise
“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
Second Place, First Chapter of a Novel Contest · Alabama Writers’ Cooperative, 2026
Selected Participant · Women & Words, 2026
Behind the story
The Vines Remember began with a loss. After Lea Holland lost both of her parents within ninety days, the corporate career she’d spent twenty-five years building started asking questions she couldn’t ignore. She answered them by finally writing the novel she’d put off for years.
Her love of California wine country, and her fascination with the stories carried by families, memory, and the land itself, did the rest. More about Lea →
Reading with your book club?
The first 50 clubs to select The Vines Remember become its Premier Vintage Book Club, with signed, numbered bookplates, priority author conversations with Lea, and a permanent place in the novel’s second printing.
Be the first to know
Preorders open in March 2027. Join Letters from the Vineyard to get the links the day they go live, plus early excerpts, recipes and wine pairings from the book, and the occasional moon phase.
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