"Introspective, intense and poignant, The Wine of Solitude is the most autobiographical of all Irene Nemirovsky's novels. Imbued with melancholy and regret, it explores the troubled relationship between a young girl, her distant, self-absorbed mother and her mother's lover, Max. We follow the family through the Great War and the Russian Revolution, as the young Helene grows from a dreamy, unhappy child into an angry young woman."--Back cover.