More than 50 years ago, John H. Brown was drafted into the U.S. Army and served a year in Vietnam. Upon returning home, he enrolled as a graduate student at West Virginia University, where he resolved to write about his experiences in the war. He even drafted a few chapters of a novel and sent them to literary agents, but all were rejected.

Despite the setbacks, Brown vowed to someday share his story. Years later, after retiring from a successful public relations career, he decided it was finally time to tackle the novel he had long postponed.

The result was Augie’s War, published in 2018, which tells the story of a young soldier coping with the horrors of Vietnam through the warm, sustaining memories of his Italian American family. The book received widespread praise, encouraging Brown to write a sequel.

The sequel, Augie’s World, published in 2020, chronicles Augie’s return home from Vietnam. Back in the States, he faces the emotional and psychological scars of PTSD. Adding to his challenges, an entanglement involving his family and the mob puts Augie in a perilous situation, forcing him to protect himself and his loved ones from dangerous threats.

“I never intended to write another Augie novel,” Brown says, “but there were just too many loose ends after the second book. So, I wrote the third and final installment of what has become the Augie Trilogy.”

The third book, Augie’s Wine, follows Augie as he flees home to start anew in California’s wine country. Once again, he finds himself on the run, this time pursued by two relentless mob hitmen. Brown’s expertise and passion for wine shine through in this installment, as Augie’s journey unfolds against the scenic backdrop of wine country—locations Brown himself has visited and written about extensively in his Vines & Vittles column.

Augie’s Wine is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon.com.

"Augie's War may be over but his battles have just begun. John H. Brown turns up the heat in this excellent series that sees our hero back from Vietnam into a hornet's nest of intrigue and criminality… that carries us from the soft brown earth of California wine country to the hard black coalfields of West Virginia. Highly recommended."