The Dress Shop on King Street (Heirloom Secrets)
This is a multi-timeline novel that begins in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1860. Rose, enslaved to a wicked family, has been told that her nine-year-old daughter Ashley has been sold away from her. Rose places some items in a sack for Ashley to take with her. Included with the items are two butterfly buttons. The timeline moves to 1946. Millicent, a talented seamstress, aspires to own her own dress shop. She is encouraged by her mother to change her last name, move to Fairhope, Alabama, and try and pass for white so that she can legally own a business. Love and secrets will change her life in ways she cannot imagine. In present-day Charleston, Harper is a design student who dreams of owning her own dress shop, and Peter is a historian who restores old buildings and is looking for clues to his ancestry. He has found one clue, a butterfly button, and is searching for its twin. The stories of all the characters intertwine in a heartrending and moving tale.
This is a novel about strong women who endured the horrors of slavery and the evil of prejudice and continued to try and protect their children. It is a story of love between mothers and daughters, telling how the characters overcome heartbreak and loss. It shows how one character, faced with an impossible choice, persevered through heartbreak, always putting her children first. It is also a love story between characters who are connected in ways of which they are not even aware. This book moves seamlessly between timelines, stitching together a story of love, hope, and courage amidst prejudice and loss, a story that is fastened with two butterfly buttons.
