The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle: A Novel

Violet invites Grace to the manor before a dance at Canterbury with officers, where a couple of other Sewing Circle girls will join them. She has enlisted MacCauley to flirt with Grace to help her feel better, but at the dance, Grace shocks them by downing several cocktails and dancing exuberantly, first with MacCauley and then with a marine. Violet is shocked to see Grace kissing the second man on the dance floor.

Air raid sirens go off, and Violet, unable to find Grace, heads to the shelter with MacCauley. When the bombs finally begin to drop, those inside are terrified when the ceiling starts to crack. MacCauley comforts Violet, and in the fear of the moment, they kiss. When they hear the signal that the planes have passed, they leave with the others, Violet wondering what the kiss meant to MacCauley. Still unable to find Grace, Violet tells MacCauley that Grace will be able to get the buses home soon as morning is approaching, and they take a ride home with some Home Guard officers.

Grace volunteers to help protect Canterbury Cathedral during the bombing; fire watchers have created a line of people to pass sandbags to put out fires, and some of them grab incendiary devices as they land and throw them away from the national heritage site. The marine from the dance follows Grace and helps as well; when the bombing stops, he seems to expect something more from her in return for his assistance. Grace hears cries for help, and she runs from him to aid those still trapped in burning, collapsing buildings. She is told of a building where children are trapped without their father, and she and another man race to help. As she carries a six-year-old boy and his baby sister to safety, part of the building falls on them, trapping them inside. They are stuck for some time, but people finally hear their cries for help and pull them out.

The marine still wants more from Grace, and she kisses him passionately, allowing herself to feel alive amid the tragedy. Hugh finds her with the marine after coming to Canterbury to help drive victims to the hospital. He is clearly jealous and offers to drive Grace home. She accepts, but they fight in the car; Grace admits she loved him, and she is angry with him for revealing his past feelings and then rushing off to get engaged. He insists he has a duty to Astrid. When he asks that they remain friends, Grace, tired of trying to please everyone, says no.

Cressida and Grace work on finalizing the Utility Clothes competition designs and Cressida’s commissioned work from clients in the aftermath of the Canterbury bombing. Hugh has avoided the manor, and Cressida confronts Grace about what happened. Grace explains, and Cressida admits that for some, like Hugh, it is difficult to pull away from a lifetime of being put into a specific box. She encourages Grace to pursue her own dreams but not to avoid her feelings and relationships like Cressida did.

Violet spends an anxious few days waiting for MacCauley to return from a sudden trip to London with commanding officers, wondering the whole time what their kiss meant to him. When he returns, she hears him speaking to other women in the manor in his normal flirtatious manner, and she becomes angry with him, giving him a cold greeting. However, when she drives him to Canterbury a short time later and tries to tell him the kiss was a mistake, he begs her not to do so, revealing it is all he has been able to think about since. They kiss again, but Violet says they should not act on their feelings, both because they come from very different places and because it is against the rules for them to fraternize. She wonders what would become of them since either of them could be reassigned to new places, and they live on different continents. MacCauley urges her to think only of the moment, and when she drops him off for his meeting, he secretly turns to her and mouths, “I love you.” Violet mouths the words back to him.

As the Sewing Circle organizes their new treasure trove of wedding dresses, Cressida announces that she will leave the village in a few weeks to finally set up a new shop in London. Hugh’s fiancée wants to renovate the manor, and Cressida would be in the way. She and Grace have also taken over the old village clothing shop to set up as an Aldhurst base for Cressida’s business, and Grace is proud to share that she will run it for Cressida.

On a walk, Cressida and Ben share concerns over Grace’s emotional distance since her fight with Hugh. Cressida suggests that focusing on work will help Grace feel better, as will the potential of joining Cressida in London for a change of scenery. Ben suggests Cressida stay in the village since she has built a life there, but she refuses, emphasizing that she needs to return to her old life. Privately, she recognizes that perhaps she could have a different kind of life with Ben, for whom she has developed feelings, but she is scared to admit those feelings and risk making herself vulnerable. She decides to continue with her plan to return to London.

The night before her final officer’s training assessment, Violet drives MacCauley to London for a meeting. She worries over his quick goodbye, wondering if he is getting her ready for when they may have to say goodbye during or after the war. She runs an errand before heading to an officers’ club to pick up a package for MacCauley. He surprises her there, taking her into the dining room. He shares how happy he is to be with someone who is his best friend, and he proposes. Violet, no longer caring about whether he has a title, says yes joyfully. MacCauley reveals that the package he received was from his mother, who sent her own wedding veil as a gift to Violet when MacCauley wrote to his parents to tell them he would propose. Alongside the veil is a kind letter from his mother, expressing her joy and love and warmly welcoming Violet into the family.

Cressida, Violet, and Grace enter the venue for the Utility Clothes fashion show, with both Violet and Grace set to model the two outfits Cressida and Grace designed. Grace feels her nerves grow as they mingle. Muriel, Cressida’s journalist friend, introduces Grace to the head designer of the House of Worth as Cressida’s protégée. Backstage with the other models, Grace feels overwhelmed, and one of the professional models insults her. On the runway, she feels terrified but continues walking. As she nears the entryway again and poses, she spots Hugh in the back, watching her. She is frozen in place, and the famous war photographer, Cecil Beaton, who was hired for the show, grabs a shot of her at that moment. Afterward, Cressida tells her it was a beautiful shot and that she suspects it may be the one they use for the newspapers. People throng around Grace afterward, praising her design and success on the runway. She finally feels as if she may have found a place for herself.