So, what makes a story about a gown so special? In this case, it's the wedding gown that Princess Elizabeth wore at her wedding. Jennifer Robson has woven together a fascinating tale about two women that worked on the gown and a young woman that discovers her grandmother has some skeletons in her closet...

It's 1947, and London is facing a tough winter after the War. Despite the victory, people are still feeling the pinch from rationing. Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin both work as embroiderers at the famous Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell and develop a strong friendship, especially with the huge challenge of working on the wedding dress of Princess Elizabeth.

In present-day Toronto, Heather Mackenzie is sad to learn that her beloved grandmother has died. Finding a set of embroidered flowers that her Nan left to her makes her very curious. Why does Heather's grandmother have embroideries with the motif that strongly resembles the motif of the wedding dress worn by Queen Elizabeth II almost seventy years before?

THE GOWN is the latest novel by Jennifer Robson and it's a fabulous story about the making of a beautiful, important gown. The book is well written and I found the characters to be fully developed. The dual storylines are equally interesting to read and I enjoyed getting to the bottom of the mystery about the embroidered flowers; I was really surprised by this ending.