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The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding
The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding
The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding
Audiobook12 hours

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding

Written by Jennifer Robson

Narrated by Marisa Calin

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it.

“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.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateDec 31, 2018
ISBN9780062891983
The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding
Author

Jennifer Robson

Jennifer Robson is the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star number-one bestselling author of six novels, among them The Gown and Somewhere in France. She holds a doctorate in British history from the University of Oxford and lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and children.

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Reviews for The Gown

Rating: 4.200575840307102 out of 5 stars
4/5

521 ratings65 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Really great story. I was sad to come to the end. The author is excellent at character development. I want to listen to her other books.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am a 82 year old lady this book brought a lot of memories both good and not so good it thoroughly enjoyed it and well deserved a five star. Thank you ♥️
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Such a beautiful story of life and friendship. Very well performed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Amazing read! I def was blown away by the story and I didn’t realize I would gobble it up so quickly!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Etwas zu viel Liebesgedöns für meinen Geschmack. Aber ansonsten eine gelungene Geschichte.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Once you get passed the first few chapters, and start realising how everything connects, it´s quite a good book. If you like The Crown, you will also like this book
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    ***Trigger Warning***
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    TW: rape
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    There is a graphic rape scene about halfway through the book. It was so good until then. I had to stop reading after that part so I can’t review beyond that.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved every chapter of this book. What a great writer and descriptor Jennifer Robson is! The characters were precious-I liked every one of them.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The friendship of two women who by strength, encouragement, talent, and faith made it through the most difficult times
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loosely based historical novel of 1947 London and the making of the wedding gown of Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth to the Duke of Edinburgh. It was hard to remember that it wasn't totally fact based; however, Robson conducted enough research to make it feel so. It's also a book about the women of that era, after the war, and how they were not cowed by the adversities they faced. Highly recommend "The Gown".
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Jennifer Robson's books are a refreshing and enlightening glimpse of the past, and SO well-written! I've enjoyed ALL of her books immensely!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was amazing. Love, love, loved it! Just wonderful.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    For me, the subject was unique. Hearing it read with accents and feeling made envisioning the characters and background so much more real. Now I really need to do some research!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Gown is ostensibly about Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown – and yes, the book does spend some fair amount of time in the workroom of Norman Hartnell but this is really the story of two of the girls who worked on the dress. In the period after WWII England was still suffering from the aftereffects. Everything is rationed and it’s one of the coldest winters London has seen with little coal to be had for heat. The joy of a Royal Wedding is giving the country something to celebrate.Ann is a senior embroiderer working for Mr. Hartnell. She loves her work adorning the dresses for the royal ladies and other wealthy clients. Miriam is a young woman from France who is escaping the horrors of the war and the loss of her family to the Nazis. She uses her determination and skills to land a job at Hartnell’s and soon becomes friends with Ann. The two of them are soon living together and find themselves selected to work on the princess’s wedding dress.Soon after the royal wedding Ann leaves England for Canada and Miriam goes on to become a famous artist. Ann never speaks of her time at Hartnell’s with her family and none of them know of her history. It’s only when a box with her granddaughter Heather’s name on it is found after her death that the questions start being asked about Ann’s life before she came to Canada. Heather decides to go to England to find some answers.I cannot write enough about how much I enjoyed this book. Usually when I read a dual timeline story I prefer one time’s tale to the other’s but in The Gown’s case I loved both. The bulk of the story was spent in the past with Ann and Miriam as is to be expected but Heather’s part of the story is quite interesting as well.I was pulled into the story from the very beginning and I read the book in one day. It was hard to put it down and the only reason I did was to cook dinner. The portion that takes place in the present is perhaps one third of the book but it’s a vital part of the book and it pulls everything together. Given the premise, the heart of the story lies in the portion and Ms. Robson brought post WWII London alive in all of it’s gritty glory. She also develops her characters slowly and deftly so that as a reader you become invested in their lives.Her descriptions of the Hartnell workshop were fascinating. I felt like I was there with the young women as they went to work every morning and lived their excitement when they learned they would be making a wedding dress for the Princess Elizabeth. In a world that is grey, crumbling and bitter cold the joy of a wedding is contagious.The book is more than just the making of this iconic wedding dress, it is also the story of Ann and Miriam; of their friendship and of the relationships that move them into the future. Their friendship is a strong one and the women’s separate tales also make for fascinating reading. Miriam has been through so much as a Jewish woman in France; her family has disappeared and she has survivor’s guilt. Ann has lost family in the war and life is just hard for everyone in its aftermath.Ms. Robson brings post war London alive in vivid detail so that I felt the bitter cold and could taste the weak tea. The stories were captivating in both eras. It’s a book than any history buff or fan of Queen Elizabeth II will love.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of the best books I have read this year.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good story. Very poignant. Parts of it are very moving, at other times it was a little slow moving for me. I enjoyed listening to the narrator. I liked her voice and I thought she did quite a good job with the various accents.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was in England during the week of mourning for Queen Elizabeth. It was a unique experience to see the throngs of people who came out to honor their monarch. There were everyday people from everywhere — she certainly touched a lot of lives. My book club chose The Gown by Jennifer Robson, which didn’t feature the then Princess Elizabeth as a main character, but rather all of the fanfare surrounding her wedding and in particular the making of her gown. The book is told in two timelines with fictional main characters that were true reflections of the era — two women finding a way in the world after the devastation of WWII. The novel brought the time and place to life with rich historical detail. I would call The Gown women’s fiction because of its emphasis on women’s changing roles in a new world, while fighting against obstacles and prejudices from the past. Both characters face struggles, some heart-breaking, with determination and an eye to a hope-filled future. The modern day thread is a smaller part of the book, yet I found it be a wonderful way to bring all the storylines to a satisfying conclusion. (Special note, including a spoiler: there is a scene that features some sexual abuse some may find triggering.)Recommended.Audience: adults.(I purchased this book for my Kindle. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Listened to this on audio.
    What a wonderful story, told in two interweaving timelines.

    First is Ann and Miriam in 1947 in post WWII London. The second timeline is Heather in modern day Toronto.

    Ann and Miriam are both embroiderers, working on Princess Elizabeth's wedding gown (current Queen Elizabeth). Their war-time stories are told in flashbacks, and are heartbreaking.

    In the modern timeline, Heather (Ann's granddaughter) has only just discovered a small clue about her grandmother's involvement in the Princess's wedding gown.

    The author does a good job of building up suspense around both story lines, along with some romance (both good and "gone wrong"), history of the holocaust and the blitz, post WWII rationing and conditions in London, and life-long friendships.

    This was a great book for me to be reading right now - took me right out of current events and into a different world.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story of two women who both worked as embroiderers in the design shop that made Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress. Ann finds a new roommate in Meriam who has recently fled France after WWII. The design of the dress is a huge secret.Another character is Heather, the granddaughter of Ann. Before the wedding, Ann was seduced and raped by a man wanting information regarding the dress. In shame, she emigrated to Canada where she had family but never talked about her life in England. After her death, she left Heather a small piece of fancy embroidery. Curious about her grandmother's past, Heather goes to England and is actually able to meet Meriam and her grandson.Interesting but light read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In 1947 London, Ann works as an embroiderer for Norman Hartnell, a major dressmaker whose clientele includes the Royal family. Miriam is newly arrived in England for a fresh start after the horrors she faced during the war and her inability to return to normal life in France. Meanwhile, in 2016 Toronto, Heather is reeling from the loss of her beloved grandmother and trying to figure out why her grandmother left her a box with beautiful embroidery samples within.I received an ARC of this book at a library conference in early 2019 and finally got around to reading it over two years later (to be fair, it technically wasn't an ARC at the time I received it as the book was out at that point). It's a really lovely tale with three fascinating women as the protagonists. Each chapter is written in alternating points of view and the plots beautifully intertwine, with both the 1947 and 2016 timelines revealing details that reflect back and forth. The descriptions of embroidery work are beautiful, and while Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress is a major feature that ties the three women together, readers who aren't fans of the royal family are likely to find just as much to enjoy. A solid choice for book clubs, I really enjoyed my time with this historical fiction novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4.5 stars if I could. Really enjoyable read
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Just after WWII a young woman named Ann feels lucky to have a job working at an embroider for a prestigious London fashion house. Not only does it provide income she sorely needs since her parents and brother have both passed on, she also gets to work on clothing that is worn by the royal family. So Ann and her co-workers are overjoyed when they find out that they are to work on a very special gown - the wedding gown for Princess Elizabeth. Among Ann's coworkers is Miriam Dassin, who has moved to London from France to get a new start on life. Miriam once worked in the Paris fashion industry but during the war she suffered much and was even imprisoned for a time. She is slow to open up to her co-workers but she and Ann are able to form a strong friendship as they work together.Meanwhile, the book also has a plotline that is set in the present day when Heather - a descendant of Ann - finds some memorabilia that belonged to her "Nan" and decided to investigate her history, which she knows little about.I definitely enjoyed the scenes set in the pat with Ann and Miriam more than the present day storyline, though Heather's story did serve to fill in what happened to Ann and Miriam after the creation of the gown. It was nice to see Heather find answers and connect with people who knew her grandmother. The historical aspects of seeing how such lavishly embroidered gowns were created was intriguing. I also enjoyed the look at Post WWII life in the London area - one tends to think that after the war everything was "back to normal", but for the British that was not the case and it was fascinating to see the hardships that were still being faced. The characters were mostly all lovely people I would have loved to sit and have tea with (except for the flashbacks about the war) and I enjoyed seeing them come out well after their struggles. I would definitely recommend this to fans of historical fiction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A historical novel about Ann Hughes and MIriam Dassin, embroiderers at the London fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge a friendship when they are chosen for the once-in-a-lifetime honor of taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth's wedding gown.Maybe because I enjoy needlework, I was fascinated by the intricacies of the embroidery work, and was eager to Google pictures of the Princess’s actual gown.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Gown is set in post-World War II London where Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin meet in the embroidery workroom of Norman Hartnell's famed fashion house. Ann is an English girl who began at Hartnell as an apprentice and risen through the ranks. Miriam has come from France, having survived the Holocaust, now seeking to put her prodigious embroidery skills to work. Though the hardship and scarcity of the war linger, the excitement of Princess Elizabeth's upcoming wedding finally gives the British people cause for celebration, and the gown will be made at Hartnell.The historical tale was so rich, it hardly needed a modern day perspective of Ann's granddaughter unearthing her grandmother's long kept secrets, but the modern perspective didn't take away either. I loved this tale of friendship, its capturing of England's hesitant first steps away from the war, the setting of the fashion house, and the excitement of the wedding. The Gown is a beautifully told story of two friends and England's reawakening after the ravages of World War II.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am not a person who is enamored with British royals or with fancy wedding gowns, but I still very much enjoyed this tale of the creating of Princess Elizabeth's wedding gown. The story centers around the lives of two young embroiderers, Ann and Miriam. Though they come from radically different backgrounds, they become fast friends when they meet at the fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Expert artists with a needle, they create patterns of embroidery for the expensive gowns of important ladies. Eventually, they are chosen to create the embroidery for the wedding gown of Princess Elizabeth. Much of the story, though, concerns the harsh lives these two young women experienced during and after the war. The novel vacillates between 1947 with Ann and Miriam, and 2016, with the additional character of Ann’s granddaughter Heather. The mysteries of her grandmother’s past are finally exposed when Heather travels to England from Canada to see an exhibition of the famous gown. This novel is well written and extensively researched, and the fictionalized characters are so real, you might just forget they never really existed. If this fictional account has whetted your appetite for more information about the royals and that time period, the author has kindly included a list of suggested books for just that purpose.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Gown by Jennifer Robson is a historical fiction story that I found to be a very satisfying read. The book puts its focus on two of the talented embroiderers that did the intricate work on Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown. The combination of reading about conditions and lifestyles in post-war (1947) Britain and the setting of designer Norman Hartwell’s work rooms gave the book an interesting slant. Two women, both with their own unique problems and secrets learn the power of female friendship and the value of “starting over”.Norman Hartwell outdid himself with his design of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown. Ann, an English working class girl and Miriam, a French Jewess emigree both find themselves working on the complex embroidery that was a hallmark of a Norman Hartwell dress. Meanwhile their private lives become entwined as they live together, work together and become fast friends. While Miriam struggles to overcome her survivor’s guilt from the war, Ann, meets and falls in love with a “too charming to be believed” man. Their is a third narrator to the book as well as we jump to the present and follow Ann’s granddaughter, Heather, on her journey to discover more about her beloved grandmother.In The Gown, the author keeps the spotlight on her three main characters, Ann, Miriam and Heather. She did supply plenty of details about the embroidery and dressmaking process as she wove together the various story lines, but the Royals are definitely in the background. This was an absorbing and charming read about the value of friendship, and although there was some romance, it wasn’t overdone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4.5. Sweet story, and well-written historical fiction about women who did the custom embroidery work on (then) Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown and veil in 1947. Ann Hughes was a single woman supporting herself by sewing at Hartnell’s. Miriam Dassin was a Jewish French emigre who survived the war and Ravensbruck and came to England highly recommended to Norman Hartnell. She and Ann become friends and co-workers and have significant roles in the embroidery on the dress. This part is all fiction, but well done, following the women through the post-war depression in England and their dating lives and what a pick-me-up the wedding was for the British People. The story switches to present-day Toronto, Canada and Heather Mackenzie whose grandmother has just died. She is given a set of elaborate embroidery samples and this opens a whole search for what she didn’t know about her grandmother, who turn out to be Ann. All the years in between get filled in with a love interest for Heather and what she learns about her family and its role in history make the entire story arc complete. Very enjoyable read with a lot to investigate later.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It’s 1947. Ann is working as an embroiderer for Hartnell, who designed Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth’s wedding gown. Miriam has just come to England from France and also finds work as an embroiderer for Hartnell. The two soon become friends and roommates. In 2016, Heather’s grandmother has just died, and she is left a box with her name on it and embroidery inside it. Her grandmother never talked about her life in England before she emigrated to Canada, and Heather wants to find out more. I really liked this. I wasn’t sure what I was going to think, as I’m not much for fashion, so I think if there had been more focus on the gown than there was (and all the details in creating it), I might not have liked it as much. But, I liked all the additional stories of Ann, Miriam, and Heather. They all had a romantic interest, and as Miriam got to know Ann better, more of her own past in France was revealed. I did, at one point, stop to look up a photo of the gown itself, and even looked for a video of Princess Elizabeth’s and Prince Philip’s wedding.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I requested The Gown to review, however I wasn't chosen so I purchased it on my own, and I wasn't disappointed. This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. It takes you inside the work room of the embroiders who work on the painstaking details to prepare the work of art on the gowns for the elite and the gown for the princess wedding. However, the lives of the women and those around them are just as captivating as those who lived it and those who followed. I definitely recommend this read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sweet. I am getting a bit tired of the different time frames.