The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle: A Novel

When Grace sees Hugh head toward the part of his lands where the lake and island lie, she follows him. They talk about their childhood while standing on the jetty, recalling the boat they tried to build that sank to the bottom of the lake. Grace suddenly challenges him to find it with her and begins stripping to her underwear. He tries to protest but joins her, soon becoming as lighthearted as her. Once they find the sunken boat, they race to the island like they used to. In the place where they kissed many years ago, Hugh admits to Grace that he is not sure how to get over her. As she kisses him, Astrid sees them, and her shriek pulls them apart. Hugh swims back to shore and explains that their kiss meant nothing—they were just caught up in the moment while reminiscing about their childhood. Grace accepts that Hugh has made his choice. Hugh and Astrid leave, Astrid insisting they talk about it all on the way back to London.

Muriel interviews all the ladies of the Sewing Circle for an article about the Wedding Dress Exchange. The women emphasize the value of a woman having one day where she feels special and beautiful, even if the rest of the time they all cheerily accept the limitations of rationing to support the war effort.

After the interview, Cressida meets Ben for a walk, during which he asks her to stay in Aldhurst and be with him. He admits that he loves her. Cressida is frightened of giving up everything she has built for herself, despite Ben’s assurances that he wants her to continue designing and building her business. She rejects him, but when she asks that they remain friends, he says he is not strong enough to be around her and think about everything they could have been to one another. He tells her that if she does not want to be with him, she must let him go. Still terrified and upset over hurting Ben, Cressida packs her bags immediately to head back to London.

Violet’s wedding day has arrived. She prepares in the manor alongside Cressida and Grace. Grace, who is a bridesmaid, expresses anxiety that Astrid will react poorly to seeing Grace at the wedding. Violet privately reflects that while Grace has accepted Hugh’s engagement, Violet herself still hopes he will choose Grace. Violet wonders at her new relationships with Grace and Cressida and how different she herself is. She thanks Cressida for helping her see a new path forward in life. They meet Hugh at the doors of the church, where he waits to give Violet away. Seeing MacCauley at the end of the aisle, Violet feels a joy she would never have expected when her plan was to marry a duke.

During the ceremony, Grace is called to read the lesson, declaiming a passage about love from the Bible and becoming emotional. She returns to her seat next to Hugh, and she is surprised when he gently reaches for her hand and holds it for the duration of the ceremony. They are parted as everyone heads back to the manor for the reception, but during his speech, Hugh makes a pointed note about love blooming from friendship. He speaks of how his sister has found that with MacCauley, but he looks at Grace at the end, and the guests suspect he is speaking of Grace, as well. After the meal, he gestures for her to join him on the terrace, where he admits that he broke off his engagement and that he wants to be with Grace. At the end of the reception, Grace wonders if Violet purposefully aims her bouquet at Grace before leaving with her groom.

After her honeymoon, Violet joins the other Sewing Circle women to view Cressida and Grace’s complete design shop. Above the shop is a sewing room, and Cressida offers it for the Sewing Circle’s use. They press her again to stay in Aldhurst, but she refuses. They surprise her with a cake and heartfelt speeches about all she helped them accomplish, and she thanks them in return, hoping they have all learned to live their lives in the ways they choose, even if those ways are somewhat unconventional. She admits that it’s not Aldhurst she will miss but the friends she has made.

Grace and Violet accompany Cressida to the train station on the morning of her return to London. On the drive, Cressida sees Ben leave the church, and he offers her a kind smile and wave despite the pain of their last conversation.

Cressida feels the loneliness of her London life creep back in as she returns, and once she is in her new apartment, she opens the gift Grace and Violet gave her. It is an autograph book filled with pictures of all her new Aldhurst friends and notes from every member of the Sewing Circle. Seeing a photo Violet snuck of Cressida and Ben, Cressida feels heartsick, wondering what she truly wants for her life now. As she sees the final picture of her, Grace, and Violet on Violet’s wedding day, she clutches the photo to her chest and recognizes a feeling she has never felt before: homesickness.

At a note from Hugh, Grace heads to the lake to meet him. She finds the jetty and boathouse bedecked in candles, and when she sits beside him on the jetty, Hugh proposes, offering her his grandmother’s ring, given to him by Cressida before she left. They decide to have an outdoor wedding at the jetty to pay homage to their own wild, unusual beginnings as children. Grace asks if they’ll have to sell the manor without the money Hugh was going to gain through marrying Astrid, but he says he will only sell some of the farmland around it. He has learned from her the value of community, feeling himself more part of the village than ever before, and he wants to stay at the manor.

At her new London headquarters, Cressida has returned to her habit of working late, but she knows that she no longer does it to pursue success but rather to avoid the loneliness of her London flat. Even with Grace’s visits for training, Cressida feels acutely lonely. She hears a knock on the shop door and finds Ben there. When she welcomes him inside, he brings out a ring and asks her to marry him. Cressida tries to cling to her old reasons about her lifestyle and profession, but Ben insists that he does not want her to be a vicar’s wife; he will even leave his position in Aldhurst and find one in London if she would prefer. Cressida finally says yes.

Cressida helps Grace put on her wedding gown the morning she is to wed Hugh. It is the same wedding gown her mother wore, the gown belonging to Violet’s mother, redesigned thanks to Cressida’s help. It has been worn by Lottie, Violet, and now Grace. The Sewing Circle ladies greet Grace before the wedding, and then Cressida and Violet help her with final preparations before heading to the church. After the wedding, Hugh gives a speech about the importance of community and promises a new era for Aldhurst. Grace wants to speak as well, and she shares the story of her wedding dress and how it helped the women of Aldhurst come together, weaving together the bonds of friendship.