Introduction

An unforgettable and “fascinating tale” of an orphan turned WWII spy turned fashion icon in Paris (Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye).

Alix St. Pierre. An unforgettable name for an unforgettable woman. She grew up surrounded by Hollywood glamor, but, as an orphan, never truly felt part of that world. In 1943, with WWII raging and men headed overseas to fight, she lands a publicity job to recruit women into the workforce. Her skills—persuasion, daring, quick-witted under pressure—catch the attention of the U.S. government and she finds herself with an even bigger assignment: sent to Switzerland as a spy. Soon Alix is on the precipice of something big, very big. But how far can she trust her German informant…?

After an Allied victory that didn’t come nearly soon enough, Alix moves to Paris, ready to immerse herself in a new position as director of publicity for the yet-to-be-launched House of Dior. In the glamorous halls of the French fashion house, she can nearly forget everything she lost and the dangerous secret she carries. But when a figure from the war reappears and threatens to destroy her future, Alix realizes that only she can right the wrongs of the past …and finally find justice.

Editorial Review

No Editorial Review Currently Available

Excerpt

It was decreed that Alix should get ready for the ball at Maison Chris- tian Dior and use the services of the makeup artists and hairdressers who ordinarily worked on the finer canvases of mannequins.

“Your hair is an unusual color,” the hairdresser declared when pre- sented with Alix’s locks.

“Pffft,” Madame Bricard responded haughtily. “It’s better than being one amongst a thousand blondes.”

Next it was the turn of the makeup artist. “You have a wide mouth.” Alix smiled her very widest in response.

Above, on the platform over the cabine where the most full-skirted and splendid dresses were usually lowered down from the work- rooms, Alix could hear the rustlings and whisperings of the petites mains, who’d all stayed behind to see Mademoiselle l’Américaine in her custom-made Dior creation.

“It is the most beautiful dress of all,” she heard one sigh.

“I sewed a lock of my hair into the hem,” another whispered, which was the tradition with bridal dresses.

“I sewed my heart into it,” a third commented wistfully. “Excuse me,” Alix said to the makeup artist.

She reached for a water glass to ease the gentle ache in her throat. That the women thought so much of Alix’s dress that they had sewn hopes and dreams and charms into it was touching beyond anything, and for a single, exquisite second she felt the ghostly toile tiptoe into the room, take a seat beside her and say, You can have hopes and dreams too. Hopes like finding a way to track La Voce tonight. But maybe, as someone who’d never been to a Paris society ball, she also dreamed of an evening that combined the audacity of Tabou, the magnificence of Anthony’s terrace, and the wonder of a Dior ballgown. Surely that wasn’t too much to wish for?

Suzanne bent down to say, “Let’s see the dress, chérie.”

Down from above it descended.

Alix had been expecting dramatic black. But what appeared was a silvery blue, a prismatic hue she’d seen perhaps once before in the deep crevasse of a glacier—the blue of spells and enchantment and most definitely of magic.

The seamstresses clapped their hands delightedly as it dropped over Alix’s head and Suzanne turned her attention to the fastenings.

“I should probably do it myself,” Alix said, “otherwise I won’t know how to get it off at the end of the night.”

Madame Bricard snorted. “This dress will be torn off you at eve- ning’s end.”

It was Alix’s turn to snort at the weight of expectation on the shoul- ders of Anthony March, who had no intention of removing even a loose thread from Alix’s body. Then Suzanne spun her around to face the mirror—and everyone quieted.

She almost put a hand out to touch the looking glass because the woman standing there could not possibly be Alix.

Her neck rose creamy-white out of a strapless bodice. The luster of the fabric reflected like moonlight in her eyes and through her hair— one more deeply green than ever, the other more brilliantly red. The bodice was astonishingly shaped—wet-draping, Madame Carré was explaining—in ruched folds rippling over her breasts and around her waist.

It looked as if she’d been wrapped in seawater and, with one gen- tle tug, the dress would drop in a silvery-blue puddle at her feet. But the internal architecture held everything together in secret so what appeared from the outside to be stilled water, bound temporarily in place while the spell lasted, would never actually fall at midnight.

Alix’s fingertips brushed over the stunning velvety flowers that were somehow part of the fabric.

“Velours au sabre,” Monsieur Dior explained. “The jewel of all couture.” view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

Alix is asked (or told) to go to Switzerland while the world is at war and she’s only in her early twenties. How might you have reacted to this request at a similar age? Do you think her life might have turned out differently if she’d found a way to decline, or do you think adventure and its consequences would have found her anyway?

Mary says to Alix – power is the opposite to love. Do you agree or disagree? How does this idea play out over the course of the book in Alix’s life and the lives of others?

Both Anthony and Alix battle with the morality of war – whether any action that harms another person can ever be seen as “right”, if there even is a “right” side or a “better” side to be fighting on during a war, or if war makes everyone equally guilty. What do you think?

Dior’s New Look was controversial at the time and seen by many as an affront to a world still suffering the after-effects of war. Alix argues that the dresses represent something very different – hope at a time when, for many women, there wasn’t much hope to be found. What’s your view? Do you like the New Look style or not?

There’s a large cast of female characters in the book: Chiara, Alix, Esmée, Fortunée, Suzanne, Carmel, Mary, Becky, Madame Bricard and many more. Who did you most relate to? Who didn’t you like? Could you understand why each women behaved the way she did? Who would you like to see a happy ending for?

Were you surprised by some of the points about women and financial independence that Alix makes, such as women not being allowed to have credit cards and make credit applications in their own names, and single women not being allowed to open back accounts at that time? How would you survive without your own credit card and bank account today? What else needs to change for women?

Did Alix do the wrong thing in not telling Anthony about Lillie? Should she have known it was relevant? And did Anthony treat Alix poorly by embarking on a relationship with her without considering the effect on her reputation? Would you have forgiven him, or her?

From the publisher

Weblinks

There are no web links at this time.

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.

Member Reviews

There are no user reviews at this time.
Rate this book