The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

May 2022; Ballantine Books; 978-0593158838
audio, ebook, print (432 pages); historical fiction

I loved Jennifer Ryan's The Kitchen Front and when I reviewed The Underground Library early this year, I realized that The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle had gotten buried in my TBR pile. As I've been trying to whittle down that pile, I was excited that I found time for this book.

One of the reasons I enjoyed The Kitchen Front so much was because I love food (I've continued to make a couple of the recipes from the book. I'm not as big on fashion, but I still loved the characters. 

It definitely had the same vibe as The Kitchen Front where there are three women from different walks of lives who bond while overcoming the obstacles of WWII. 

It is a sweet story of life on the home front. In some ways, this book reminded me of the TV show that aired a few years ago on PBS (it was a British drama) called Home Fires. We see a lot of village life. While food rations are mentioned, the story focuses on the clothing rations. Clothing rationing might have been mentioned in some of the other WWII stories I've read, but it has never been a real focus. 

Another aspect of the home front that I haven't read much about is the basic training women went through. Violet, the daughter of the late Lord of the Manor, joins up and has an eye-opening experience. Before all she was concerned about was snagging an Earl or other advantageous marriage match. But through the story, she discovers that love is the true advantage of marriage. 

I also liked learning about the organization that was trying to get women to buy into the new factory-manufactured clothing options. Before the war most people didn't buy "off the rack" clothing, instead, pieces were custom-made. 

If love World War II stories where you get glimpses of different aspects of that time and have great characters that you grow to care about, then you will want to read this book.

Buy The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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