I’m checking in today with the second check off my list of 12 Books in 12 Months – The Gown by Jennifer Robson.
The Gown
I know what you’re thinking – here she is again with yet another World War II fictional story. What can I say? I like what I like. :-) I loved this book and the unique perspective of the excitement of a royal wedding in a country wracked with war. The author was only able to speak with one lady who actually worked on the gown, so much of the story and characters are complete fiction. However, it is beautifully written and told, and I loved the friendship between Mariam and Ann very much. This was a wonderful recommendation from many of you, and I am glad to pass along my thumbs up to many more!
“Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have to travel.”
—Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabeth’s forthcoming wedding
London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown.
Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved Nan, a woman who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her Nan’s connection to the celebrated textile artist and holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?
With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with a sweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitous costs of victory, she introduces readers to three unforgettable heroines, their points of view alternating and intersecting throughout its pages, whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.
12 Books in 12 Months
See the list here:
On the dockett for March is Remarkably Bright Creatures.
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