Description

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 centuryQueen Elizabeths wedding gownand 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 Elizabeths 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 nations 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 onceinalifetime honor taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeths 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 Nans 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 behindthescenes 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