From the bestselling author of It Happened at the Fair and Fair Play comes a compelling historical novel about a progressive “New Woman”—the girl behind Tiffany’s chapel—and the love that threatens it all.
As preparations for the 1893 World’s Fair set Chicago and the nation on fire, Louis Tiffany—heir to the exclusive Fifth Avenue jewelry empire—seizes the opportunity to unveil his state-of-the-art, stained glass, mosaic chapel, the likes of which the world has never seen.
But when Louis’s dream is threatened by a glassworkers’ strike months before the Fair opens, he turns to an unforeseen source for help: the female students at the Art Students League of New York. Eager for adventure, the young women pick up their skirts, move to boarding houses, take up steel cutters, and assume new identities as the “Tiffany Girls.”
Tiffany Girl is the heartwarming story of the impetuous Flossie Jayne, a beautiful, budding artist who is handpicked by Louis to help complete the Tiffany chapel. Though excited to live in a boarding house when most women stayed home, she quickly finds the world is less welcoming than anticipated. From a Casanova male, to an unconventional married couple, and a condescending singing master, she takes on a colorful cast of characters to transform the boarding house into a home while racing to complete the Tiffany chapel and make a name for herself in the art world.
As challenges mount, her ambitions become threatened from an unexpected quarter: her own heart. Who will claim victory? Her dreams or the captivating boarder next door?
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Summary
There is a reason that Deeanne Gist is an internationally acclaimed best-selling author; she writes books in which I am never sorry to have invested my time. And besides time, I find that I invest much of myself into her novels because her characters and story lines are so compelling and rich it just happens without much effort. Tiffany Girl does not disappoint. First, her settings are totally interesting. This is her third novel to be set during the Chicago World\'s Fair. However, the story actually takes place in the late nineteenth century New York City. Mrs. Gist was herself captivated by the story of the Tiffany Women\'s Company girls, thus she created her touching story around this bit of history. I love to learn of interesting bits of history as I read a novel! But while the reader is introduced to this intriguing era of history, the heart and soul of the novel is the story of a woman, Flossie Jayne, and a man, Reeve Wilder. Flossie is the only child of a middle income couple; she has been pampered, protected and provided for by her adoring parents all her life. Reeve, on the other hand, has never really known the safety and succor of family--but he\'s known a lot of hurt, and chooses to put up a wall around his heart to protect himself from further hurt. We find both in the midst of the beginnings of the women\'s movement, women tired of being consigned to the roles of either wife and mother or old maid. A time where any money women earned belonged to their husbands\'. These \"New Women\" were despised and made fun of and looked upon as loose women. Just this aspect of the book is quite eye-opening and contemplative. But the best part of the story is witnessing the transformation of the two main characters, and their eventual coming together, despite their very different upbringings. It is a tender and beautiful story of maturing, forgiveness, and love. It is a book that you will not want to put down until you have reached the final page. It is a book that you will want to go on and on. I find that these are the best kind because it is a story that has stirred your heart and soul and the embers of your imagination. And it made me cry--a lovely, happy cry. If you like historical fiction and a romance, then you will want to read this novel!