Estranged sisters are stunned to learn that their mother left them both the dress shop.
Izzie’s devastated to think that her mother didn’t value all the years she spent working in the shop. She stayed true to her mother’s vision even when her sketches and ideas to modernize the shop were both rejected. She’s stunned at the idea of having to share the store with her sister. Izzie’s so angry at her sister.
Mrs. Hugo Pearsall, Sylvia, hasn’t been back to the shop in years. Her marriage to her husband elevated her beyond shop girl; she now does charity work. She doesn’t see her husband much as he’s working for the Navy. But when he does come home he’s cold and distant. Sylvia learns that her husband has been unfaithful to her. Everything changes.
When Izzie is drafted into the war, she’s forced to ask her sister to take over the shop. Without hesitation, Sylvia agrees. She doesn’t care that her husband looks down upon the shop or that he doesn’t want her to work. She vows to keep the dress shop open until Izzie returns.
It isn’t easy, people aren’t paying their bills, the inventory is in shambles, there is no orderly bookkeeping system, and the rationing of clothes makes it harder for women to purchase them. The sisters communicate regularly for the first time in years through letters. If something doesn’t improve, the sisters might lose the shop.
DRESSMAKERS OF LONDON is a heartfelt story between two sisters who are trying to figure out a new relationship when they are forced to trust each other. I confess I didn’t know about clothes rationing in the war and this was fascinating. I loved the letters sent back and forth, especially between the sisters. While there are plenty of WWII novels out there, this one takes a different approach. I couldn’t put this down; I had to find out if the dress shop and the sisters’ relationship were going to survive.
The author of the “enthralling” (Woman’s World) The Lost English Girl returns with a heartfelt new novel about estranged sisters who inherit their late mother’s dress shop in World War II London.
Isabelle Shelton has always found comfort in the predictable world of her mother’s dressmaking shop, Mrs. Shelton’s Fashions, while her sister Sylvia turned her back on the family years ago to marry a wealthy doctor whom Izzie detests. When their mother dies unexpectedly, the sisters are stunned to find they’ve jointly inherited the family business. Izzie is determined to buy Sylvia out, but when she’s conscripted into the WAAF, she’s forced to seek Sylvia’s help to keep the shop open. Realizing this could be her one chance at reconciliation with her sister, Sylvia is determined to save Mrs. Shelton’s Fashions from closure—and financial ruin.
Through letters, the sisters begin to confront old wounds, new loves, and the weight of family legacy in order to forge new beginnings in this lyrically moving novel perfect for fans of Genevieve Graham and Lucinda Riley.
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