December 1, 2021
When the Blitz destroys both home and business of famed fashion designer Cressida Westcott, she to flees to the family manor house she deserted decades ago, arriving with only the clothes on her back. Niece Violet is elated until her conscription letter arrives, while local vicar's daughter Grace now has someone to help repair her mother's wedding dress for her own nuptials. From the author of the beloved The Chilbury Ladies' Choir.
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June 1, 2022
Ryan's latest historical novel, following The Kitchen Front (2021), is another charming read set during WWII and is centered on the lives of three very different women. Grace, Cressida, and Violet have all experienced some form of loss that has impacted their lives, and the war is taking its toll. Grace's energy is consumed by her work as a vicar's daughter and her duties as the soon-to-be wife of a vicar. Cressida's home and business are lost to the blitz. Violet's dependence on the predictability of class and society is in shambles. Though the women don't have much in common, they band together to make the best out of a bad situation, and each woman undergoes a transformative journey through their friendships as they learn from one another. While these are fictional characters, Ryan weaves actual events into their story lines, and the backbone of this novel is the clothing shortage during WWII and how people did their best to make-do, particularly brides. Comforting but still rich with interesting history, this will please fans of cozy WWII fiction.
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April 9, 2022
World War II brings change to every part of England. World famous clothing Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her studio in the London Blitz, and returns to her family's country manor, which she fled after being disowned by her rigidly aristocratic brother. Little does she know that her return will change everyone's lives from her equally rigid nephew Hugh, now master of the estate, to her vapid socialite niece, Violet, to the village sewing circle inspired by rehabilitating one wedding dress to setting up a Wedding Dress Exchange that reaches across the Atlantic, even to Eleanor Roosevelt. Under her influence the quiet vicar's daughter looking forward to life as a quiet vicar's wife decides to follow her own adventurous heart and her talents as a designer and the vapid socialite become a driver, mechanic, and officer; however, it's not until Cressida returns to her life in London that she recognizes her own faulty assumptions about life and love just as she has encouraged the others to do. VERDICT With its wealth of historical detail, Ryan's latest historical novel (The Kitchen Front) will appeal to World War II buffs as well as lovers of cozy English village novels.--Cynthia Johnson
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.