Encompassed by a dress!

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan 

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Three women face the buildup of WW11 in London. The measures to do with food and clothing, and the changes they face, including the overturning of their expectations go beyond what they’d envisioned. Cressida Westcott is an acclaimed couture designer and business woman. Violet Westcott is the rather spoilt and seemingly airheaded debutante expecting to marry a title. Grace Carlisle is the vicar’s daughter who’s made the choice to be metaphorically less than she can be and who’s chosen to marry her father’s curate . Unfortunately, the tunnel visioned Lawrence sees Violet as the perfect helpmate, rather than a woman to be loved.

All three women will discover who they are and more importantly, who they can be.

The tale is centered around Violet’s marriage and her mother’s wedding dress. A dress that needs careful attention, reworking and mending. Where else to go but to the local Sewing Circle.

A challenge, but then all over Britain, women are learning to remake clothes and make do. Clothing coupons don’t run to wedding dresses. 

A perfect look at life at these times, the pressures on communities, the class divides being broken down, community and caring.

I loved the development of all three women in a HEA fashion. They were stepping out of their expected roles into different challenges, each in their own way.

A loving and delightful story based on the reality of an organisation started during these troubled years helping women realize at least one of their dreams—wearing a white wedding dress on that special day. Special efforts for those unprecedented times. Hope in the midst of terrible times. Balm to the soul.

A Random House - Ballantine  ARC via NetGalley