The Gown

Author: Jennifer Robson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018
Pages: 400
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: London, 1947: Beseiged 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 Hartwell. 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 her Nan's connection to the celebrated textile artist and holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?

With The Gown, Jennifer Robson take us inside the workrooms where on 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.

Review: This book gets rave reviews every time I see someone post about it, but still I wondered, "how could a book about a dress be that good." It was on display at the library and I figured I'd finally try it. It really is that good. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Banished: Surviving my Years in the Westboro Baptist Church

Author: Lauren Drain and Lisa Pulitzer
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2013
Pages: 295
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. The WBC is fervently anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti-practically everything and everyone. And they aren't going anywhere: in March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WBC's right to picket funerals.

Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC; it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and the spat back out again seven years later.

Banished is the first look inside the organization, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance.

Lauren spent her early years enjoying a normal life with her family in Florida. But when her formerly liberal and secular father set out to produce a documentary about the WBC, his detached interest gradually evolved into fascination, and he moved the entire family to Kansas to join the church and live on their compound. Over the next seven years, Lauren fully assimilated their extreme beliefs, and becase a member of the church and an active and vocal picketer. But as she matured and began to challenge some of the church's tenets, she was unceremoniously cast out from the church and permanently cut off from her family and from everyone else she knew and loved.

Review: I don't recommend this book because it's repetitive in its stories and message. A good editor could have tightened it up and made it a more compelling read. That said, it's interesting. I am a moth to flame when people are willing to talk about their time in a cult - how they ended up in one, what it was like, and escaping.

A Touch of Stardust

Author: Kate Alcott
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Knogf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015
Pages: 304
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Julie Crawford left Fort Wayne, Inidna with dreams of being a Hollywood screenwriter. Unfortuntely, her new life is off to a rocky start. Fired by the notoriously demanding director of Gone with the Wind, she's lucky to be rescued by Carole Lombard, whose scandalous affair with the still-married Clark Gable is just heating up.

As Carole's assistant, Julie suddenly has a front-row seat to two of the world's greatest love affairs. And while Rhett and Scarlett - and Lombard and Gable - make movie history, Julie is caught up in a whirlwind of outsized personalities and overheated behind-the-scenes drama. . .not to mention a budding romance of her own.

Review: While I was never engrossed in the story or absorbed into the characters' lives, this was an interesting novel. I loved reading about the making of Gone with the Wind, an epic novel an movie.

I didn't love the ending, but it did ring true to life so I guess I can't fault the author for that.

Gabriel's Angel

Author: Nora Roberts

Genre: Christmas / Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2012
Pages: 244
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: All reclusive artist Gabriel Bradley wants is solitude. But when a very pregnant - and very beautiful woman ends up at his remote cabin during a blizzard, the modern-day Scrooge can't turn her away. For even though Laura is desperate, alone, and on the run, she's manage to bring Cabriel the gifts of passion, hope and life - he only needs the courage to reach for them.

Review: Laura didn't come off as the weak and vulnerable character that Roberts kept insisiting she was, but the story as a whole was cute. Gabriel pushed the whole angel thing a bit too much too. But, overall. this plot and these characters worked against the backdrop of Christmas.