399 pages Harper Muse publisher May 17,2022 publication date
About The Book
She has one last chance to prove she chose the right course for her life.
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.
In 1908, rich young socialite, Dorothy Tuckerman, gets to experience the Greenbrier Resort yearly while vacationing there with her family. Dating an Italian racecar driver just ups her social status and makes her crave the passion and adventures that come with being with a wealthy man of status. Despite her yearning it is not to be as her family puts a stop to it, not uncommon for a young woman in those days. Never having forgotten the beauty and charm of the Greenbrier in West Virginia, Dorothy returns there thirty-eight years later as a divorced woman and her eye for beauty and style leads her to become CEO of America’s first interior design firm. She is tasked with restoring the Greenbrier to become more elegant than the original design. Her bold and brilliant prints are ahead of her time and one of a kind. Her unconventional methods of design lead some to give her designing suggestions but she won’t back down. Her whole life was the Greenbrier and she absolutely loved it there. “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.”
Pub Date 17 May 2022 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Some current pictures of the Greenbrier Resort
Have a most lovely day. Thank you for stopping in.
I am delighted to welcome you to my blog today for my stop on the Paris at First Light, Bookouture Blog tour. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. I recommend this to all historical fiction lovers.
Description
Paris, 1944: secret agent Juliette is on her most dangerous mission of the war so far. But then her children are kidnapped, and to get them back she may have to commit the ultimate betrayal – that of France itself…
Four years ago, when France fell to the Nazis, Juliette made the ultimate sacrifice, leaving behind her two precious children to join the Resistance and defend her country. Now a spy in Paris, she must work with CaptainDaniel Diaz – an American agent she’s taken an instant dislike to – on a dangerous mission to uncover a deadly Nazi plot.
As the pair play their parts, Juliette begins to see another side to Daniel, and their feelings for each other start to grow. But just as love blossoms, Juliette receives a ransom note that changes everything. Someone in Paris knows who she is. And they’ve kidnapped her little son and daughter. The message is clear: betray your country, or you’ll never see your children alive again.
Juliette has sworn a sacred oath to save France at all costs, but she could never sacrifice her children. So, against all the odds, she decides to attempt the impossible: rescue her children and continue her dangerous work fighting the Nazi threat.
But as the mission forces Juliette and Daniel to the very brink, will they succeed on all fronts? And if not, will France pay the ultimate price, or will Juliette?
A completely gripping and heart-wrenching historical novel about hope, betrayal and one mother’s limitless courage. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale and My Name is Eva, this epic story will leave you breathless.
My Thoughts
Paris at First Light is the second book in the WWII Resistance series by Amanda Lees. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it definitely wowed me. I experienced so many emotions while reading it. I find it fascinating that the characters are based on actual people. I love reading historical books based on fact as I learn so much from them. I love a lot of detail in books with a lot of descriptions of everything. A well-researched book such as this one always has me appreciating the author’s time. I was truly lost in the story vividly imaging the goings on while reading. Such a strong and powerful woman, she does the unthinkable, making the ultimate sacrifice leaving behind her heart, her two precious children to become a resistance fighter becoming a spy in Paris. Working through an extremely dangerous mission with American agent Captain Daniel Diaz whom she takes an instant dislike to, they are working undercover to uncover a deadly Nazi plot. I must admit the book is brutal in parts, but I look at it as realistic to the times and circumstances. She has left her husband because of his brutality, putting her children and mother into hiding. Somehow, disaster strikes when he finds them, kidnapping his own children which he knows will hurt her more than anything. There are high stakes as she has promised allegiance to France but will do anything to somehow get her children and still work fighting the impossible, the Nazi’s. Will Juliette and Daniel be able to work against the odds to rescue the children? Gripping will keep you reading late into the night. Unputdownable! A mother’s love is without limits, beyond compare! The ultimate betrayal, shocking. Splendid read! Superb, I will be looking up this author for more.
Pub Date: 23 Nov 2022 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Amanda was born in Hong Kong and survived both a convent boarding school and a Jesuit boys’ school before being summarily ejected from the latter. She gets her thirst for adventure from her parents who met in the jungle in Borneo where her mother had set up a hospital and her father, a former Gurkha Intelligence officer and Oxford-educated spy, was probably up to no good.
She is the author of the bestselling satirical novels Selling Out and Secret Admirer (published by Pan) which have both received critical acclaim and have been translated into several languages. Her major YA thriller trilogy, Kumari, Goddess of Gotham, was written as a tribute to her mum, who died a couple of months before Amanda got the idea for a series which would reflect her own exotic childhood. Kumari was nominated for the Guardian Children’s Book Prize and the Doncaster Book Award. It featured as Redhouse Book Of The Month and Lovereading4kids Book Of The Month.
A broadcaster as well as an actress and novelist, Amanda appears regularly on BBC radio and LBC and was a contracted writer to the hit series Weekending on Radio 4. She researched and edited the leading directory for banks, The Banker’s Almanac, for Euromoney publications while also covering stories of shady dealings in the City for them. She has written for, or contributed to, The Evening Standard, The Times, New Woman, US Cosmopolitan, Bulgaria’s Vagabond and Company Magazine as well as numerous online publications and has two non-fiction books published under a pen name.
Amanda has conducted a love coaching phone-in from the sofa of Richard & Judy and wooed the viewers on Channel 5 Live. She won an award at the Hungarian Gyor Film Festival for a short film she produced, a psychological thriller called Pros and Cons.
Her book, From Aconite to the Zodiac Killer: The Dictionary of Crime, was published by Robinson/Little Brown in July 2020 to excellent reviews. It was published in the US by Ulysses Press in May 2021. She has just completed the first in a romantic thriller series set at the end of WW2. Author Social Media Links Website: amandalees.com
Vegan Book Blogger 