The Wedding Veil – Book Review

The Wedding Veil is a sweeping new release that follows four women across generations who are bound by a beautiful wedding veil and a connection to the famous Vanderbilt family.

On June 1, 1989, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser marries George Vanderbilt wearing her family’s treasured wedding veil. After her husband’s untimely death in 1914, Edit struggles to maintain their luxurious 250-room Biltmore Estate and leave it as a legacy for her free-spirited daughter, Cornelia. In the present, Julia Baxter wears a wedding veil bequeathed to her great-grandmother by a stranger on a train in the 1930s, to her own fairytale wedding at the Biltmore Estate. When she learns of her fiancé’s infidelity, she leaves him at the altar. Centuries apart, the two women struggle to find their own paths despite the obstacles they face.

When I was first approved for a review copy of this book, I thought, why in the world did I request this? I don’t even read chick lit! If it had a different title and cover image, I wouldn’t be embarrassed to say admit how much I enjoyed it. First, the pros. The historical references to the Vanderbilt family were fascinating. So fascinating, in fact, that one of my next reads will be Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper (his mother was Gloria Vanderbilt) and author Katherine Howe. Kristy Woodson Harvey is a fine storyteller with likeable, complex characters. The cons? I’m not a big fan of novels about high society and the Gilded Age, and some events and settings made me cringe. I found the multiple narratives disorienting—too many women, too many narratives. The historical details trump, though, so I give this book 4 stars.

Published Date: March 2022
Genres: Historical fiction, women’s fiction
Read-alikes: The Greenbrier Resort by Joy Callaway, The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz, The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly, The Gown by Jennifer Robson, A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler

 

Posted in Blog, Book Reviews, Literature, Reading and tagged , , , , , , , , .