The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding

"The Gown", by British author Jennifer Robson, is historical fiction written in a favorite style for authors these days. Namely, there are multiple points of view - in this case, three - and operating in different time periods, two in Robson's book. The story's focal point is Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress and the interest and attendant commotion it caused in the post WW2 Britain. The government and the Royal Family threw caution to the wind after years of war-time and post-war economy and rationing and gave Elizabeth and her (dishy) groom, Philip Mountbatten, a real celebration.Part of most wedding hooplas, of course, is the wedding dress. Elizabeth's was handmade at the fashion firm of Norman Hartnell. Hartnell had been dressing the Royal family, as well as other aristocrats and general rich people since the 1920's. He and his firm were the obvious choice to design THE dress for the November, 1947 wedding. Jennifer Robson focuses on two of Hartnell's embroiderers in her story.Robson writes in her Afterword that she wanted to write about the Royal Wedding, but not from the usual viewpoint of the bride or members of the wedding party. She chose to write using the two women - both at odds and ends in post-war Britain. Ann, a young woman from Barking, has worked at Hartnell for 10 years or so and has worked her way up in the Hartnell studio. Miriam is a refugee from France, who arrives in London both with a recommendation from Christian Dior and a lot of secrets she's not willing or able to disclose. She gets a job at Hartnell and she and Ann share a house. The third character of the story is Ann's granddaughter, Heather, who lives in current-day Toronto. Her beloved "Gran" has died and she - like her old friend, Miriam, has gone to her grave with lots of untold secrets.Jennifer Robson brings both the plot and the characters together, and makes the time span of 70 or so years between 1947 and 2015 disappear. She's a good writer and the book, while somewhat predicable. I assume it would be a good book club selection. Is it great literature? No, but it's a good read.

This book was a real disappointment. The story about the women who created Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress could have been a fascinating view of life in London following World War II, and of the common folk who worked behind the scenes to produce the trappings of this most anticipated royal wedding. Instead, this book is plodding, dull and predictable. The characters, the dialog and the plotting seemed to come straight out of a Hallmark made-for-TV movie script.Dramatic and emotional scenes seem contrived. Every conflict that every character has throughout the novel is sanitized and then neatly resolved, regardless of how far-fetched that resolution would be in real life. And although the author is clearly trying, she fails to give her characters much personality or depth. They all seem a little stereotypical (ie: typical British working-class girl, typical upper-class twit, typical Frenchwoman, typical Canadian, etc).Had I wanted to read a Harlequin Romance (which I never, ever do...), I would have just stopped at Goodwill and picked one up for less than a dollar. I paid considerably more that a buck for this book, unfortunately.On the upside, since the book is so simply and blandly written, it's a very quick read. That said, I'll still never get back the 3 or 4 hours it took to slog thru it. Needless to say, I don't recommend this book.

Jennifer Robson’s novel THE GOWN captures a time and place with such exquisite detail. Historical fiction fans, royal watchers, and fashion lovers behold this book! Robson has woven a story about post-war time England when times were terribly dismal – think rationing, jobs were grueling and often served only to make ends meet, if that, and life was just hard. But, Princess Elizabeth’s upcoming royal wedding was soon to take place and all of London was a buzz. Everyone awaited to see what she was going to wear and even in grim 1947, pre-social media, people were clamoring a glimpse of the design of yes, a dress. Perhaps, a sparkle of hope.A young woman who lost her entire family, but not hope, had the talent and the good fortune to work as an embroider for the designer of the soon to be Queen’s wedding gown. Her impending friendship with a new colleague transforms both of their lives and a generation to come.A magnificent story unfolds of friendship, romance, family, and the ties that bind.

I was attracted to The Gown by the plot summary, so I bought the Kindle edition. While the plot is indeed good, the character development drives the novel and contributes to its realism. Robson created a genuine, honest group of believable people in this story and showed solid attention to multiple details. There were a couple of nice twists in character relationships that added depth and interest. While the story dealt with hard issues of life in and after WWII, the story is never gloomy because the characters maintain hope despite struggle and hardship. The appendices offer insight into Robson’s process, the genesis of the story, and, they open a window into the life of the living seamstresses who the novelist had the chance to interview for the book. This was my first novel by Robson and it was a very pleasant read.

I would classify this story and style as Romance, not literary, not historical fiction. The story-telling is padded with unnecessary or redundant summations and description. For example: “Her sundress was wrinkled, her makeup was melting away, and her nose told her that the all-natural deodorant she’d swiped on an hour before had failed her entirely.” For crying out loud; was that really necessary?

The story is a dual-timeline format, set in 1947 and present day.In 1947 London we meet Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers working for the famous fashion designer/couturier Norman Hartnell. Their expertise leads to them working on the wedding dress for Princess Elizabeth.In the present day Canada, we meet Heather Mackenzie who has been left some exquisite embroidered flowers by her grandmother who recently died. There is nothing to indicate what the embroidery is, but the fact that her beloved Nan left them to her in a box marked “for Heather” leads journalist Heather to try to find out more about her Nan’s childhood/youth in London. When Heather reaches London, she begins to unravel the story of Ann and Miriam and discovers that the embroidered flowers match the designs on Princess Elizabeth wedding dress.This book is ultimately about friendship, loyalty and the hope that the war-torn country was feeling at the forthcoming marriage of their future queen. There are brief mentions of the Holocaust & rape but these are part of the storyline & appropriately done.There is strong evidence of detailed historical research which always gives a fiction-based-on-fact book more credibility. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for any lovers of historical fiction, royal stories or stories about ordinary women and their daily life.

What an absolutely brilliant book. I so ENJOYED it as I too am an embroiderer, it was so easy to imagine myself back into those times, the history is described so well and the characters so believable. I could not put this book down reading well into the early hours. I really do highly recommend this as a very good read.

Lovely story author had good characters whom it was easy to have an empathy with. The wedding must of been very exciting period after the aftermath of the misery of the war years. The author made you feel like you were living in those times. It has made me want to try and see the dress if it comes into a exhibition sometime. A very enjoyable book and l will look out for more books by this author

I thought this book was excellent. The characters were interesting,I liked the time zone variation .The topic was bound to be fascinating. I shall now look at her other books.

I love anything to do with textiles and this book was amazing in its descriptions. I loved the parallel storyline, however it does sadden me that there is so little about the 'backroom' people who created such wonderful things.Well worth a read, especially for the lovers of the 'Crown'