THREE CITIES. TWO WOMEN. A STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS . . .
London, 1875. Bel has secured a design job at the newly opened Liberty store, where Japonisme is all the rage. When Hiro, a fellow designer, travels with her to Tokyo to source silks and inspiration, little does she know it will be the start of an unforgettable love story.
Paris, 1985. Mira, a recently qualified art curator, is hired to catalogue the contents of an apartment which has been closed for decades. As she works through the treasures it reveals, she longs to discover what happened to famed designer Isobel Bright – and why her apartment has been locked for so many years. . .
Crossing oceans, cultures, and timelines, this is a sweeping story of a patient and everlasting love – and the moments that tie people together forever.
Kate Lord Brown was a finalist in ITV’s The People’s Author contest, and her novel The Perfume Garden, which has been published in nine languages, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2014. In 2020 she was highly commended in the RNA Elizabeth Goudge Trophy.
Kate has also written editorial, reviews and regular columns for Traveller, Conde Nast, Good Housekeeping, Writers’ News, Arts Business, Gulf Times, Woman, the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Express and others. She wrote the first book club column in the Middle East for two years, introducing a host of writers to the region through the pages of Ahlan! After many years living overseas, she has returned to the wild and beautiful southwest of England, where she grew up.
My thoughts: This was a fantastic read about a pioneer in fashion, sadly fictional, who created her own fashion house in Paris and every time things went sour, somehow found a way to rise again.
It’s also a beautiful story about love, a love that spans the globe and decades, hidden away in the apartments and ateliers of Paris and the quiet life of a silk merchant in Japan. Brought to the light by a researcher years later, who wants to solve the mystery of Isobel Bright and her disappearance from the fashion world.
Just a lovely read, bringing to life the development of fashion and the truly delightful bond between Bel and Hiro, who even though they both marry others, and spend decades apart, never stop loving one another and communicate in letters and fabric, shipped between Japan and France.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 