The Fashion Designer

The Fashion Designer

The Pattern Artist Book 2

Nancy Moser

Shiloh Run Press, Jul 2018

320 pages, Kindle, Paperback

Women’s Lit, Historical Lit

✭✭✭✭✭

Provided, eARC

The cover is attractive with its softly lit shot of the woman working at the dress form. The historical font with its charming swags adds to the feel of the historical nature of the book.

This is the second book in this two book set by author Nancy Moser about a maid who becomes a fashion designer. Aside from the heavy-handed Christian aspect of the book, the story is very interesting, an aspect of women’s history that you don’t normally stumble upon. Runaway maids are much more likely to end up dead or as prostitutes, not fashion designers in Paris or NYC.

The primary characters were written very well, and even the secondary characters had consistent personalities. You got caught up in their joys and sorrows and you took their chances with them.

The pace was quite brisk, moving you from one event to another in fairly rapid succession, though there were times when the writing seemed to allow the pace to lag a bit. When the pace lagged, the tension also suffered. Otherwise, the tension was pretty high throughout, always wondering if the women were going to make a success of their business. Were they going to get another financier? Was it going to happen in time? Would Richard come to see Vesta? And when would Henrietta’s folks show up?

Since I sat up all night to read this, I guess the story is worth the 5 stars in spite of a few minor criticisms.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys reading stories about women’s history.