Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye.

The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend.

They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. Hoover’s ( November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.Īt first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. Untangling the threads of these remarkable women’s lives, Heather, too, just may find love.Ī fascinating glimpse into the world of design, the healing power of art, and the importance of women’s friendships. Yet they must avoid the snares of spies eager to steal and publish the designer’s patterns before the wedding. Fortune seems to finally smile on the women, as Ann meets the dashing Jeremy Brackett-Milne and Miriam captures the eye of journalist Walter Kaczmarek. Mountbatten’s nuptials approach, the women of Hartnell House cut, stitch, and embellish her gorgeous wedding gown. Although haunted by her memories of Nazi persecution and imprisonment at Ravensbrück, Miriam secures a job at Hartnell House, befriends Ann, and moves into her house.

Luckily, Miriam Dassin has decided to immigrate to London from Paris, where she, too, has worked as a superb embroiderer at the house of Christian Dior. A talented embroiderer and dressmaker to the royal family, Ann’s work for Norman Hartnell, the premier dressmaker in England, offers an elegant respite from grim reality. With everything from sugar and tea to heat and light strictly rationed, Ann Hughes, Heather’s grandmother, has done her best to make her drab house happy, but it's tough going.

Robson’s ( Goodnight from London, 2017) novel shifts deftly between Heather’s world, as she travels from Toronto to London in 2016, and Nan’s world, giving meticulous attention to the historical detail of post–World War II London. In her quest to discover her grandmother’s secrets, Heather will find much more than she had bargained for. Distraught over her grandmother’s death, Heather Mackenzie discovers that her beloved Nan-a woman who never sewed a stitch in her life-has left her a peculiar gift: a box of exquisitely embroidered, pearl-encrusted flowers.

Jennifer robson the gown