Publisher: Blue Box Press / Brilliance Audio
Published: February 1, 2022
Source: Print – Paperback via GetRedPR / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Audio
Summary:
Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother’s vintage jackets, purses… and pearls of wisdom
Estranged half-sisters Gabrielle Winslow and Lulu Quattro have only two things in common: mounds of debt and coils of unresolved enmity toward Bette Bradford, their controlling and imperious recently deceased mother.
Gabrielle, the firstborn, was raised in relative luxury on Manhattan’s rarefied Upper East Side. Now, at fifty-five, her life as a Broadway costume designer married to a heralded Broadway producer has exploded in divorce.
Lulu, who spent half her childhood under the tutelage of her working-class Brooklyn grandparents, is a grieving widow at forty-eight. With her two sons grown, her life feels reduced to her work at the Ditmas Park bakery owned by her late husband’s family.
The two sisters arrive for the reading of their mother’s will, expecting to divide a sizable inheritance, pay off their debts, and then again turn their backs on each other.
But to their shock, what they have been left is their mother’s secret walk-in closet jammed with high-end current and vintage designer clothes and accessories – most from Chanel.
Contemplating the scale of their mother’s self-indulgence, the sisters can’t help but wonder if Lauren Weisberger had it wrong: because it seems, in fact, that the devil wore Chanel. But as they being to explore their mother’s collection, meet and fall in love with her group of warm, wonderful friends, and magically find inspiring messages tucked away in her treasures – it seems as though their mother is advising Lulu and Gabrielle from the beyond – helping them rediscover themselves and restore their relationship with each other.
My thoughts:
I am a fan of both these authors individually so of course I had to check out their collaboration, especially since it dealt with fashion and sisters. What’s not to love about that?
Books that delve into family dynamics are always intriguing to me, especially ones about sister relationships because I have two and while we do get along quite well, there have been times when that has not always been the case. I loved that these two half-sisters, who had been estranged, come together after the death of their mother because of a stipulation in her will.
While this book comes across as light-hearted, especially when looking at the cover, I liked that there was some depth to it. Yes, there is an easy banter between the sisters and the story does ease it’s way into the more substantial plotlines, but once it does I found myself really loving the messages that it conveys.
I think this could make for a really good bookclub pick because it’s an easy read that also has quite a bit to unpack and I can see some great themed events being planned around it.
Audio thoughts:
This was a fun book to listen to and I thought both narrators, Mia Barron and Callie Beaulieu, did a great job bringing the story to life. Both narrators infused just the right amount of emotion and tension into their voices as needed and I thought their pacing was just right.
