When fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses her home, design house and all her possessions in one night during the Blitz she returns home to Aldhurst Manor. She left twenty years ago and she hopes her nephew Hugh and niece Violet will be more welcoming than their late father Eustace. She plans on staying long enough to find another place in London to live and a building for her fashion design business.

Violet Westcott is Cressida’s niece, she’s excited to see her aunt and life has been rather boring with all the men off fighting in the war. It’s also getting in the way of her finding a suitable husband, when Violet’s conscription letter arrives, she’s mortified, she has to do six weeks of basic training and after she passes her brother Hugh gets her a position close to home as a driver at Darley Grange.

Grace Carlisle is the local vicars daughter, her mother died when she was ten and she’s been helping her father with his parish work ever since. Grace is engaged to steadfast Lawrence, she wants to wear her mother’s moth damaged wedding gown and it might be past saving?

At the village hall, the local ladies hold the Aldhurst Sewing Circle and mend and make do classes. The women alter and repurpose clothes, there's a huge demand for second-hand clothing and especially for growing children. The dress is almost beyond repair, Cressida agrees to help and she starts attending meetings at the hall. The ladies want to boost morale in England and a way of doing this is to refurbish wedding gowns for brides to borrow for their big day and have the wedding they have always dreamed of. Everyone wishes to experience joy and love and especially during the dark days of WW II in England.

Cressida, Grace and Violet become close friends, it changes their outlook and expectations and for the other members of the sewing circle as well. Before they know it, they are being sent and repurposing gowns for brides from all over England, they have a waiting list and Vogue magazine wants to interview them.

I received a copy of The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. It’s an uplifting and absolutely delightful story about the power of friendship, women helping other women and finding love when they least expect it. Jennifer Ryan used real details about clothing coupons and rationing at the time and the sharing of wedding dresses in her impeccably researched and well written book and five big stars from me.

In today’s world, we think we know about supply shortages due to covid. However, what we are experiencing today is nothing like the Europeans experienced during World War II. Shortages are at the heart of Jennifer Ryan’s latest novel, in particular wedding dresses.

Three female protagonists help tell the story of the women on England’s Homefront as they band together to help each other through the war years. The novel is set in Aldhurst Village and London.

Readers are first introduced to Grace Carlisle. Daughter of the local Vicar, Grace is a shy, quiet young girls, helping however and whenever she can. She is engaged to a vicar from another village. Throughout the novel, Grace comes to realize that she is marrying Lawrence for all the wrong reasons. With the wedding not far off, Grace tries desperately to mend her late mother’s wedding dress that has been eaten by moths and mites.

Cressida Westcott is a well-known fashion designer in London. She is a workaholic, never marrying or having children. During the Blitz, Cressida’s home and design house are victims of the Nazi planes, leaving her homeless and without a source of income. She has no choice but to go to her ancestral home in Aldhurst Village, where her only niece and nephew reside. Will they take her in? Or are they like their father, Cressida’s brother? A hate-filled old goat.

The third protagonist is Cressida’s niece, Violet Westcott. With all the men away at war, aristocrat Violet is sure she will wind up a spinster, unable to make a suitable match with a titled man. Then Violet’s conscription letter arrives. She is in despair at the boring uniform.

Cressida goes to the village sewing circle. A group of women meet every week and sew together. Grace goes for help with her mother’s dress. Cressida goes to teach the women some basic sewing skills, and Violet goes for want of anything else to do.

This circle is where the wedding dress for every bride is born. The village women donate their dresses while Cressida contacts her old clients to donate theirs, and a movement is born. The idea of a white dress for every bride is true. Be sure to read the author’s notes for the scoop on how dresses for brides grew and grew, eventually with the United States participating.

I enjoyed reading “The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle.” It was interesting, but not riveting; therefore “The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

This was a sweet read, very gentle and easy. I throughly enjoyed this one and would have loved to have seen them making the wedding dress . This was a lovely story and I finished it quickly. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This is beautifully written book that hooks you on the first page and doesn't let go. It has romance, humor and just enough warfront history to make it a great read. Loved it and highly recommend it.
I received a complimentary copy from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine via NetGalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks to William Morrow and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book. It was a very heartwarming story of women in a village during WWII who come together to help each other. They gathered old clothes and materials to repurpose for new items due to clothing rations. Their main item becomes remaking wedding dresses to share amongst anyone who wants to use one. Cressida, Grace, and Violet are the three main characters all from different walks of life. The war changes them and helps them to see who they really are. And did I mention some happy love stories mixed in. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, I was provided an ARC of The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

*****Publishing May 31, 2022****


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ One small English town, 3 strong women all actively involved with the Aldhurst Sewing Circle that played an integral role during WWII with creating a clothing exchange, so that the community could obtain clothes without using their limited clothing ration cards. Especially useful for parents. Their efforts eventually included Wedding dresses, so that brides could borrow a wedding dress for their big day!

This book is narrated by the following 3 women:

Grace has been taking care of her father since her mother died of TB 10 years ago. She carried out his duties with the church , since he went into a deep depression after his wife’s death. Grace is set to get married in 3 months, but with the clothing rations,
she decides to wear her mother’s wedding gown. The moths damaged the dress, so she needs to mend it if she is going to wear it . Her father suggests taking it to the Aldhurst Sewing Circle to help fix it. Cressida comes to the rescue to help Grace fix it. What will she learn about herself with helping people during the war including attending the Sewing Circle meetings?

Cressida Westport a successful fashion designer who has her own design house in London looses everything when a bomb strikes during WWll, including her design house. Cressida has no choice but to go live with her niece and nephew in the country side of Aldhurst. How will she adapt to small town life? Will she be able to fit in?

Violet, Cressida’s niece, who has to report to active duty right after her Aunt comes to live with her. She has to wear a uniform and cut her hair short, which she is not happy about and feels humiliated by it. What will she learn during her active duty?

A wonderful story of women taking a dire situation and coming up with ways to support their community during the war!

This book is based on actual events, Jennifer Ryan details out in her author’s note her research and how she used it in this book! I loved how this author included the parameters of the clothing ration and the ration card details, so you get an idea of what it was like in Britain during the war.

I enjoyed reading The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle. Set during the London Blitz, Ryan brings to life the difficult times World War 2 proved to be for so many. When Cressida Westcott is forced to return to her hometown with nothing, she sets off a series of events for the women in the village. Based on a true story, I love the way the women work together regardless of British class and help one another mend clothing to share with the villagers. The most remarkable items they mend and share are the wedding dresses. With a ration on fabric and other limitations, the ladies work to bring one small joy to the brides of war. One of my favorite parts of the story is Grace's metamorphosis from a meek wallflower to the woman she is meant to be. If you enjoy women's fiction with some romance in a historical setting, you'll want to read The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle.

I was so happy to be chosen to receive an ARC. I’ve read all of Jennifer Ryan’s previous books. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each one.
This one did not disappoint. Ryan’s last theme was surrounded by cooking. Her first book was surrounded by singing. This book’s theme is sewing. I hope she continues to share different types of vocations of what was done in the time of war. I know Ryan applies herself by jumping in and doing a lot of research when she writes. I especially love the author notes she provides at the end of her books. I learn things about the war I had no clue about.
The three ladies in this book are wonderfully unique. I learn a lesson in each one of their storylines. Though I loved all the characters, my heart kept gravitating to Violet. The challenges, decisions and friendships she creates throughout the story bring such a heartfelt gift in the book. I will as usually be adding Ryan’s book to my collection when it comes out to print.

A romance set in England during WWII, with all of the predictable characters: the aristocratic heiress who learns not to behave like a silly fool and finds that you don't need a title for true love; the cold, efficient businesswoman who has to shelter in her childhood village and surprise! learns to be nice; the vicar's sad daughter with hidden talents; the lord of the manor, an asshole who becomes surprise! a nice guy; and so on. There was indeed a network of women in the UK circulating white wedding dresses during the war, and there were some fabulous styles that came out of wartime fabric rationing, and this book builds on those events. But the writing is clunky and tells rather than shows ("Cressida Westcott, noted couturier, ..."), and paste and cut errors abound, resulting in repeating phrases or sentences within pages of one another. The characters are all stock and their developments are very predictable. In addition, everyone is white, everyone is able-bodied and healthy, everyone is straight, everyone is kind of boring.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a fun read – not too heavy and not too light. Set during WWII in England, the story follows three women at crossroads in their lives. They meet at the village’s sewing circle and form a common bond around creating wedding dresses for women during wartime.

The story covers issues I hadn’t read much about before, about the clothing rationing in England and how wedding dresses were particularly in short supply. The author, Jennifer Ryan, does a great job on the historical detail and brings to light this niche topic in an entertaining and heartwarming manner. The characters felt real and the setting described very well.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and will certainly watch for more from her. The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by this author was also a delightful read.

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.
Before long, Cressida’s spirit and ambition galvanizes the village group into action,
and they find themselves mending wedding dresses not only for local brides, but for
brides across the country. And as the women dedicate themselves to helping others
celebrate love, they might even manage to find it for themselves. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC copy of THE WEDDING DRESS SEWING CIRCLE by Jennifer Ryan.

Despite the multiple POVs with Grace, Cressida and Violet, I still can follow the story and I enjoyed the story. This novel is about three women in a wedding dress sewing circle dealing with rationing in wartime England.

The characters are likable. I found the novel entertaining. The novel is a pageturner. I liked how women support women.

Highly recommended for fans of THE GOWN.

Historical Fiction / Women's Fiction

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle combines the best of historical fiction and epic romance. The novel tells the story of three women who learn what true love is, all while working with a group of friends to provide wedding dresses for brides during WWII clothing rationing.

I was swept away into the lives of Violet, Grace and Cressida, and the mission of the Sewing Circle to fulfill every bride's dream to wear a beautiful dress on her wedding day. The emotional growth of each of the main characters through the course of the novel was believable and added to the tug on my heart as I hoped for each to have a happy ending.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ballantine Books and Jennifer Ryan for the opportunity to read an ARC of The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle. The opinions in this review are my own.

Good WWII story on the gentler side. Enjoyed learning more about clothes rationing, the reasons behind it, and the methods used to work within the confines of the restrictions.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan, is a beautiful story set in Aldhurst Village, England during the height of WWII. It’s a story of friendship, determination and resolve amongst a group of women set on regaining a sense of purpose and fashion, especially for those brides that could no longer have access to white wedding dresses on the most important day of their lives.

Among the women is Cressida, a well known fashion couturier, whose fashion house was destroyed during an air raid. With nowhere to go she returns to her childhood home, Aldhurst Manor, a place she escaped years ago from the suffocating presence of her brother. There’s self-sacrificing Grace, a vicar's daughter, engaged to one man, but years later still in love with her childhood friend. And then there’s Violet. Determined by duty to marry a Lord or Duke, Violet meets her match when she meets a rugged, self assured American officer. Will love conquer her heart or will duty continue to call.

These ladies and those of the sewing circle will work together to bring bridal gowns to the vast majority of brides despite clothing and material rationing by requisitioning and redesigning bridal gowns, all while sorting out their personal lives, careers and love lives during a tumultuous time in history. A truly enjoyable story for anyone who lives historical fiction and romance.

I really liked this book. I watched each woman change and grow, not only in their personal and professional lives, but their love lives as well. The camaraderie among the ladies in the sewing circle was wonderful and it was so great to watch them lifting each other up. This was such a fun read and a great novel for anyone who lives WWII fiction and books with strong female leads. It was my first Jennifer Ryan book, but it won’t be my last.

I want to thank Netgalley and Random House-Ballantine books for an ARC of the The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

3.5 Stars

The book started off with a bang with London being bombarded during WWII. I was drawn in immediately by the fear and horror the character of Cressida Westcott experienced watching her block being obliterated under fire. She was a successful clothing designer with a fashion house and an apartment, both destroyed and leaving her homeless. She wanders the streets with the other evacuees with not much more than a nightgown on her back, and we live this surreal nightmare right along with her. Luckily she hails from a gentrified family with an estate in a quaint village in Kent. It's just that she hasn't been there in ages and never expected to have to go back. She defied her father by not marrying within the titled system and escaping to London for a career. With nowhere to go, she called the estate in advance of her arrival requesting temporary refuge. With her father and brother already passed on, nephew and niece Hugh and Violet politely receive her.

One of the things I love reading about during this era is the rationing and making due with what you have. There is a shortage of clothing so garments must be repurposed, repaired and built more simply. A particular problem that crops up is the availability of formal white wedding gowns. A vicar's daughter unearths a very beautiful satin wedding gown with lacy roses worn by her late mother which she hopes to wear for her own upcoming wedding. However, the moths have gotten to it. She brings it to her sewing circle group to see if they have any ideas about how to rehabilitate it. Fortunately, with Cressida in town to lend her considerable designing talents to this group, the project is on a spirited trajectory to rehab the treasured gown, which turned out to be from a famous Parisian designer. It was very interesting to read of the ingenuity of incorporating certain fabrics (such as curtains) in lieu of lace to rehab this gown. Also, this gown was generously offered to be used by any other bride in town that needed it. It spearheaded a vigorous campaign to donate previously used wedding gowns, no matter how old, to help so many other brides. Some brides were so desperate that they utilized white silk parachutes found during the war to serve as material for wedding gowns, which was actually illegal.

I am embarrassed to say I got a bit bored around the 50% mark, but pressed on...and I'm glad I did. I was drawn in by the absolutely riveting bombing attack that occurred during a village party event, sending droves of people into shelters, packed shoulder to shoulder into subterranean concrete. It was so realistic I felt I was there, watching the lanterns bob back and forth and wondering if the brick ceiling would split apart and cave in, burying them under rubble. I am not much for WWII themed books, but this one really brought the experience home to me.

There were a few romantic conflicts to navigate in the book, and the sense that life is too short to not find actual real love and satisfaction in life, both in romance and women's careers. Overall this was a lovely book, albeit a little longish for me (over 400 pages).

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

4 Stars

Another sweet and charming British Home Front book by Jennifer Ryan.

Cressida Westcott left her childhood home in Aldhurst Village, England years ago under a cloud. Her older brother, Eustace Westcott, an autocrat and stickler for tradition, demanded that Cressida remain at home as a companion to his wife and nursemaid to this children after her fiance was killed in World War I. Not fancying a life of servitude in the country, Cressida ran off to bohemian Paris where she learned to design and make clothes; later becoming a successful couturier in London. All of this changes one night early in 1942 when Cressida's London home and business are destroyed during an air raid. With no where else to go, she returns to Aldhurst to stay at the family manor, now owned by her nephew Hugh.

In Aldhurst, Cressida's spoilt niece Violet introduces her to the members of the village sewing circle; dutiful vicar's daughter Grace, vivacious Lottie, energetic Mrs. Bisgood, Mrs. Kettlewell and her responsible daughter Martha, and elderly Mrs. Todd.

The next six months brings many changes to lives of the women, triggered by the repair of an old wedding dress that belonged to Grace's mother. Clothes rationing and the large number of wartime weddings makes a new white gown beyond the reach of most brides, so the ladies of Aldhurst come up with a plan to help as many brides as they can to have the white wedding of their dreams. While bringing their plan to fruition, friendships are formed, they see the choices they've made in a new light, consider new opportunities, and change their lives for the better.

Plenty of sweet romance, a dash of humor, and interesting British home front women's history make this book a delight.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Note: I'm sure the author has been told this many times, but the movie Easter Parade with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire didn't come out until 1948. This was not part of my review.

I love Jennifer Ryan’s WWII historical fiction books. This one is well researched and loosely based on actual people and events. This is the story of a village sewing circle that has started in accordance with the ‘Make do and mend’ order. The group is primarily ladies from the village, but when the Blitz sends London fashion house owner/designer back to her family manor, things take a very different turn. It begins with Grace, the vicar’s daughter who is soon to be married. She has taken her mother’s weeding gown from the attic, and it is very damaged. The sewing circle insists that they can help mend it. This starts the movement that asks for donations of wedding gowns that can be remade and lent out to girls who would otherwise have to wear their military uniforms or a regular everyday dress to their wedding. The movement even gains the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt when a local British girl marries an American soldier. If you enjoyed The Chilbury Ladies Choir or The Kitchen Front, you will love this book. Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of this book.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle gives amazing insight into the struggles and dedication of British subjects doing their part for the war effort during WW2. Clothing was at a premium during and immediately after the war because of cost and lack of materials. Anything and everything went to the war effort. Women got together to mend and remake anything they could.

I can only imagine how comforting it must have been to sit together, giving and finding encouragement, discussing how to help others and finding ways to make do. Women from different classes and situations worked along side one another with a common goal. The women may have started off with mending everyday clothing but the mending of Grace's wedding dress brought an even bigger purpose to the group. Her dress was only the beginning.

The characters in the book add a lot of color to the story. In fact, the story is a visual aid to those impacted during that terrible time in history. Different classes were affected in different ways. I have to admit I did like reading about situations where someone in high society was knocked down a peg or two. Even better was when those of high society chose to be open minded and accepting of others in great contrast to certain other characters that were just plain rude.

Romance added a wonderful feeling of joy and satisfaction to the story. Love seems to have a way of brightening up the saddest of stories. Love crossed boundaries. Love proved stronger than duty. The author had a wonderful way of adding lots of drama to interactions.

For many this book is like walking down memory lane. I will be purchasing this book for my mom for that very reason. She was one of the recipients of a borrowed wedding dress. I now have to wonder how many others wore that same dress. I will look at wedding pictures during this time period with a new perspective. Thanks to the generosity and dedication of others, a bride got to where a beautiful white wedding gown instead of a uniform or her best dress.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. The opinions expressed are my own.

This book was so good! Jennifer Ryan is one of my favorite authors She always writes such interesting stories with lovable characters. This story takes place in Britian during the war. Grace Carlisle wants to wear her mother's wedding dress, but when she unpacks it, it is ripped and full of holes. So starts the great idea to mend wedding dresses for brides in their small village. The brides cannot buy a new dress because the clothing is being rationed. With the help of Violet and Cressida Westcott, as well as other ladies in the village, the business grows and helps lots of brides during wartime. Of course, there's also some romance! I really enjoyed this book!