The Wedding Dress [Paperback]

Virginia Ellis (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (Mm) (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345444833
• ISBN-13: 978-0345444837
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,453,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unexpected Treasure, July 23, 2006

By 

Alicia in Georgia "www.ItsaMustRead.com" (near Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wedding Dress (Paperback)

I loved this book. It's a romance that might be rated PG-13. Historical. A tad paranormal. Mostly a slice of life after the awful war that tore our country - the strength and love and human spirit that kept us going.

Three sisters, Victoria, Julia, and Claire, are trying to keep things going on their Virginia plantation after the War Between the States. Victoria and Julia lost husbands to the war. So many men died, the youngest sister, Claire, is afraid that she'll never get married and have a family. To raise their spirits, the sisters start to make Claire a wedding dress. As the three work on the dress, they bring hope to the community, and the world brings hope to them. They are visited by Monroe, who came to tell Julia about serving under her husband...

The book goes through about a year of ups and downs, laughs, growth, discovery, and contentment. Definitely a "keeper" you'll want to read again and again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical Historical Novel, August 16, 2002

By 

Sheri Melnick (Enola, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wedding Dress: A Novel (Hardcover)

Reminiscent of a nineteenth-century journal, Ms. Ellis' tale of three sisters in 1865 Virginia is a nostalgic novel of war's devastation and triumphs. Young war widows Julia Atwater Lovejoy and Victoria Atwater Whitmore are determined to elevate the spirits of their seventeen-year-old sister Claire. They decide to spend their fall and winter days at Oak Creek Plantation piecing together a wedding dress for Claire with the hope that by spring, she will find a beau.

The arrival of Sergeant Monroe Tacy, wartime friend of Julia's deceased husband, William, elevates the spirits of the elder Atwater women as they see in Monroe a potential husband for Claire or an escort to the women's Savannah cousins. But Monroe is more than the deliverer of a message from William as he helps the women of Oak Creek survive the winter with his hunting and repairing skills. As the approach of spring brings new surprises, the Atwater women prove that they are no simpering southern belles.

This lyrical first person account of Julia's post Civil War life is enlightening of the emotional and physical repercussions of war without subduing the read with gory details.
Ghostly images give an ethereal quality to this novel highlighting the value of family and friendships, proving that love can survive even amidst the most difficult of circumstances.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good summer reading for a light novel., June 28, 2002

By 

"jwtexas" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wedding Dress: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book. This was my introduction to this author and I found her to be very good. Her story line was good and it kept the readers interest. Her writing style just flows and once in awhile she would come up with sentences that just "float". I highly recommend this book for light reading, yet informativ reading.