The Paris Gown

Listed in the Textile Arts category on Art In Fiction, The Paris Gown (2024) by Christine Wells is set in 1950s Paris. Paris, 1955: Three friends—Claire, Gina, and Margot—who parted as very young women with their whole lives ahead of them, reunite in Paris years later, determined to start life anew. Parisian Claire has been working hard to become a Michelin-starred chef one day, but ever since the heady time she spent in the company of socialites Gina and Margot, her dream has been to own a Dior gown. This seemed like a far-off fantasy, until the eccentric and wealthy Madame Vaughn, who lives above Claire’s family brasserie, abruptly leaves Paris, asking Claire to mind her apartment. More bafflingly, Madame Vaughn also makes Claire a very special gift: a stunning Dior gown. Meanwhile Gina, a cool American blue blood, lands on Claire’s doorstep nursing a broken heart and a broken engagement after her father lost all the family’s money in a risky business venture. A journalist aspiring to be a novelist, Gina has returned to Paris in the hope of pursuing her dream. But when her father begs her to attend the United States Embassy ball to perhaps persuade Hal Sanders, her former fiancé, to invest in her father’s new business venture, she is torn. She wants to help her father, but seeing Hal again will be exquisitely painful. And what on earth is she going to wear? Warm-hearted Claire insists Gina wear the Dior gown to the ball, and after some hesitation, Gina accepts. At Dior for Gina’s fitting, who should assist them but Margot, the friend they thought had gone back to Australia to get married. But Margot is living in Paris and working at Dior under an assumed name, and clearly, she is not happy to have been found. Is their close friendship at an end? Or will the wonder and delight of the Dior gown bring these young women back together? Christine Wells was the first Australian to win the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart award and has been nominated for the Booksellers' Best, the Scarlet Stiletto, and for several awards from the Australian Romance Readers' Association. When not working on her novels, Christine teaches writing classes at the Queensland Writers Centre, literary festivals, and writing conferences. Buy Now from Amazon Buy Now from Bookshop