Wine Girl

An affecting memoir from a young sommelier, struggling to make her way into the glamorous but notoriously toxic restaurant world

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'Hugely entertaining' Jay Rayner, Observer

'James does for wine what Anthony Bourdain did for the high-pressure, low-margin world of professional restaurants, exposing secrets kept from customers' Financial Times

'James writes powerfully . . . . you'll raise a glass to her extraordinary resilience'
Sunday Times

A sommelier's tale of making it in the toxic world of fine dining

Aged thirteen, Victoria James started her first job in a diner in New Jersey.

Aged nineteen, Victoria was serving sugary Cosmopolitans in a restaurant off Broadway.

Aged twenty-one, Victoria was named the US's youngest sommelier, working in Michelin-starred restaurants, serving the finest wines to pair with spectacular foods.

The groping patrons she learned to handle, but behind the scenes, the world of high dining was a mess of fractious relationships and unacknowledged abuse. It would take hitting rock-bottom for Victoria to find her way back to the industry she adores.

Wine Girl is the memoir of a young woman breaking free from her traumatic childhood. It's the story of overcoming the notoriously corrosive restaurant industry, and of the restorative power of a glass of wine with friends.