Gown

One ofthe most anticipated reads from InStyle, HelloGiggles, Hypable, Bookbub, and Bookriot!One of Real Simple's Best Historical Fiction novels of the year!The Gown is marvelous and moving, a vivid portrait of female self-reliance ina world racked by the cost of war.--Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice NetworkFrom the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth centuryQueen Elizabeths wedding gownand the fascinating women who made it.Millions willwelcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have totravel.Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabethsforthcoming weddingLondon, 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 nations recent victory.Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfairfashionhouse of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship,but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they arechosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of PrincessElizabeths wedding gown.Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeksto unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy fromher lategrandmother. How did her beloved Nan, a woman who never spoke of her oldlife in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at herwedding almost seventy years before? And what was her Nans connection to thecelebrated textile artistand holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous weddinggowns in history was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with asweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitouscosts of victory, she introduces readers to three unforgettable heroines, their points of view alternating and intersectingthroughout its pages,whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.