Book Review: "The Gown" by Jennifer Robson
Just in case you wanted to see the gown itself! I know that I did.
Publisher Synopsis:
“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 Elizabeth’s 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 nation’s 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 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 was her Nan’s 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 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.
Rating (out of 5): 4.5
Review:
Disclaimer: I feel like I should offer a fair warning: I love British history, I love World War II-centered fiction, and I love the royal family and their fashion; so, taking that into consideration, I always knew I would enjoy this book. If those are not your things, this book may not be for you. It may also explain why the following review feels a little nitpicky — I had really high expectations that I would love this book, and they were mostly met!
This spring, I have read a lot of books about female friendship in World War II (not intentionally), and this is one of the better ones I have read recently. I’m not sure which author was the first to do the dual storylines — one in the present, one in the past — that intersect over a family mystery, but it also seems to be quite popular at the moment — was it Lauren WIllig? Sarah Jio? Beatriz Williams? Someone I’m not considering? — and again, this was a great entry into that genre. Admittedly, this is a type of book I am a little burned out on; sometimes, we can just have one timeline and there doesn’t need to be some “modern woman” figuring out the history of her family through oblique clues. Wow, that has taken a turn, but now that I think about it, is anyone else a little over this narrative structure?
On to the book that I’m attempting to review: I really did enjoy it! I promise!
The book is the intersecting story of two women — Miriam and Ann — who worked on Princess Elizabeth (now QEII)’s wedding dress to Prince Phillip, and Ann’s granddaughter, Heather, who is left a mysterious box of embroidery after her grandmother’s death. No one in the family knows anything about the embroidery, but soon Heather is off to England to figure out the mystery — and it helps that there’s a cute professor to serve as her partner in crime.
I personally enjoyed the 1947 story more than the 2016 one — there are so many stories written about the days leading up to World War II, but not that many about the days immediately following the war and its continuing impact on the population (another one that I absolutely love in this genre is “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society”). Britain, at this point in time, was quite unpleasant: rebuilding from the war, the coldest winter on record, the start of the decline of empire, rationing of all goods — so a big spectacle of a royal wedding was something that captured the imagination of everyone! I loved Ann and Miriam, their friendship, their contrasting experiences in the war, and their life in post-war England. Their different romantic lives were especially interesting — Miriam and Kaz are definitely #goals. I wish the book had only been about them, if I’m honest.
Conversely, Heather’s more modern storyline wasn’t as compelling to me. She seemed a little flat, a little lost, and if I’m 100% honest, a little annoying at the very beginning. Over the course of the book, as we learned more about Ann’s life through her eyes, I liked her more. I loved that she was able to reconnect with Miriam and bring their families back together again, but it made me intensely sad that Ann and Miriam lost touch over the course of their lives. In my experience, you have those friends that save you — that bring you strength and happiness and support — and Miriam and Ann definitely served in that role for each other; it was quietly devastating that they lost out on that as their paths diverged when Ann immigrated to Canada.
I spent a lot of time googling “Princess Elizabeth wedding dress” so that I could see the handiwork Robson so eloquently described — I had no idea that it was so intricate or detailed. I wish that there had been photos within the book (it would have been especially easy on the Kindle edition that I read) so that you could see the work done by the real women in Mr. Hartnell’s workshop. I included it above so that you can see it, and the work was incredible. Notably, I also googled “Miriam Dessen” several times — in the book, she’s a celebrated artist with an international following — and I was surprised to learn she was entirely fictional. To me, that’s the mark of what was so great about the older timeline; I felt fully immersed in this story, and it was believable as true.
Trigger Warnings: Sexual violence, concentration camps
TL;DR: This is an enjoyable read about female friendship and its healing power, and shares more than I knew about one of the more notable moments in twentieth century royal history. If you like this narrative structure, Queen Elizabeth, micro histories, or just miss being in England, would definitely recommend.
