The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide features descriptions of war, including bombings and post-traumatic experiences.

Grace Carlisle is one of the three protagonists in The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle. In her mid-twenties, Grace believes she is unwanted by men and too old to expect more than the proposal from Lawrence, a serious vicar who values her primarily for her skills in caring for a parish. Her decisions about marriage are ruled by her assumption that no one wants her. When Cressida suggests Grace should not accept second best when it comes to love and marriage, Grace asks, “But what if second best is the only option? What if the alternative is nothing at all?” (83). Her low self-esteem is worsened by the burdens of her work in the village. After her mother’s death, Grace took on much of her father’s parish work as he coped with the loss of his wife and his lingering shell shock from World War I. The transition turned Grace from the free-spirited, tomboyish girl she had been into a serious, reserved, and self-sacrificial woman.

Grace’s journey encompasses her transition from self-sacrifice and settling to the pursuit of her dreams and belief in her own value.