USA Today Bestseller!
A Real Simple Best Historical Fiction novels of the year!
"The Gown is marvelous and moving, a vivid portrait of female
self-reliance in a world racked by the cost of war."--Kate Quinn, New
York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network
From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France
comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous
wedding dresses of the twentieth century--Queen Elizabeth's wedding
gown--and the fascinating women who made it.
"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.
"For fans of "The Crown," looking for history served up as intimate
drama, and those seeking another angle on royal lives, "The Gown" seems
likely to dazzle and delight." - The Washington Post
