The Grand Design
A Novel of Dorothy Draper
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Dorothy Draper has one last chance to prove she chose the right course for her life. With the restoration of The Greenbrier resort at her fingertips, Dorothy aspires to give new life to a place that’s sentimental to her, and to bring a new spark to interior design.
In 1908, young Dorothy Tuckerman chafes under the bland, beige traditions of her socialite circles. Only the aristocracy’s annual summer trips to The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia spark her imagination. In this naturally beautiful place, an unexpected romance with an Italian racecar driver gives Dorothy a taste of the passion and adventure she wants. But her family intervenes, sentencing Dorothy to the life she hopes to escape.
Thirty-eight years later, as World War II draws to a close, Dorothy has done everything a woman in the early twentieth century should not: she has divorced her husband—scandalous—and established America’s first interior design firm—shocking. Now, Dorothy returns to The Greenbrier with the assignment to restore it to something even greater than its original glory. With her beloved company’s future hanging in the balance and brimming with daring, unconventional ideas, Dorothy has one more chance to give her dreams wings or succumb to her what society tells her is her inescapable fate.
Based on the true story of famed designer Dorothy Draper, The Grand Design is a moving tale of one woman’s quest to transform the walls that hold her captive.
“Five Stars!” —Carleton Varney, president of Dorothy Draper & Company, Inc.
“As captivating and confident as the heroine at its center.” —Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Veil
“Full of luscious details of fashion and luxury!” —Kelly O’Connor McNees, author of The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
“A dazzling, intimate portrait.” —Louise Claire Johnson, author of Behind the Red Door
“Historical fiction at its finest!” —Elyssa Friedland, author of Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
Historical novel centered around America’s first female interior designerStand-alone novelBook length: 109,000 wordsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Real-life interior designer Dorothy Draper and her renovation of West Virginia's Greenbrier Resort anchor this transportive historical from Callaway (Secret Sisters). In 1908, a young Dorothy bristles at the stuffiness of her high-society upbringing and the pressure to find a suitable husband among the elite families who summer at the Greenbrier. Loathe to marry her best friend, the preferred choice of her parents, Dorothy falls for a handsome Italian guest of "paltry breeding." Callaway interpolates a second timeline set after WWII: snubbed by high society because of her divorce and professional aspirations, Dorothy forges a path as an enterprising designer. The success of her business depends on her ambitious makeover of the Greenbrier, and mounting expenses and self-doubt raise the stakes ever higher. Callaway's dialogue captures the cadences and concerns of the American upper crust, and the society drama is sure to please fans of such aristocratic historicals as The House of Mirth and The Gilded Age. The result is an elegant testament to succeeding on one's own terms.
