Flossie Jayne lives for her painting life as we begin Deeanne Gist's latest tale into the world of the late nineteenth century. There is really only one respectable position a woman can hold in this world —the role of wife and child bearer, which Flossie looks forward to, until her tuition at the School of Applied Design is revoked by her father, and her dreams of painting are dashed in favor of staying home with her mother. Such treatment angers Flossie, and soon she begins to question the very ideas she's bound to—of giving up her wages to the men in her life and not having the choice to pursue painting as she pleases.

TIFFANY GIRL twists real life events into a compelling fictional story and takes on feminism long before its heyday, giving readers insight into the role of women many decades before.

Gist is fascinated by the 1893 World's Fair set in Chicago, and she makes it one of the first points of tension in the story when the glassworkers at Tiffany's go on strike and Louis Tiffany comes calling for women to fill the jobs instead. Flossie, in need of money for her art school tuition, takes Tiffany up on his offer and is surprised at the fallout of her actions. What is a basic right today was not in the 1890's—leaving home an unmarried woman is seen as disgraceful and a surefire way for Flossie to end up an old maid, husbandless and childless.

But Flossie is determined to fit in and thrive in her new circumstances, and such courage keeps readers rooting for her success. TIFFANY GIRL is a compelling historical novel full of love, suspense, and above all, what it means to be a woman at the end of the nineteenth century.