The Grand Design
HISTORICAL | SOUTHERN | BIOGRAPHICAL
Based on the true story of famed designer Dorothy Draper, this is a moving tale of one woman’s quest to transform the walls that hold her captive.
She has one last chance to prove she chose the right course for her life.
In 1908, young Dorothy Tuckerman chafes under the bland, beige traditions of her socialite circles. Only the aristocracy’s annual summer trips to The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia spark her imagination. In this naturally beautiful place, an unexpected romance with an Italian racecar driver gives Dorothy a taste of the passion and adventure she wants. But her family intervenes, sentencing Dorothy to the life she hopes to escape.
Thirty-eight years later, as World War II draws to a close, Dorothy has done everything a woman in the early twentieth century should not: she has divorced her husband—scandalous—and established America’s first interior design firm—shocking. Now, Dorothy returns to The Greenbrier with the assignment to restore it to something even greater than its original glory. With her beloved company’s future hanging in the balance and brimming with daring, unconventional ideas, Dorothy has one more chance to give her dreams wings or succumb to her what society tells her is her inescapable fate.
Industry Praise
“A beautifully written historical romance novel to enjoy. Joy Callaway has impeccably researched the life of Dorothy Draper from her days as ‘Greenbrier’ debutante to her return as the hotel’s decorator. Five Stars!”
—Carleton Varney, president of Dorothy Draper & Company, Inc.
"With vivid characters, illuminating prose, and perfect pacing, this novel is as captivating and confident as the heroine at its center. Callaway shines as a master storyteller.”
—Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Veil
"This is historical fiction at its finest.”
—Elyssa Friedland, author of Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
“Meticulously researched and passionately imagined..."
—Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Better Luck Next Time and Be Frank with Me
About the Author
JOY CALLAWAY
Joy Callaway is the author of The Grand Design, The Fifth Avenue Artists Society, and Secret Sisters. She holds a BA in journalism and public relations from Marshall University and an MMC from the University of South Carolina. She resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband, John, and her children, Alecia and John.
Visit her online at joycallaway.com
Connect on social media too!
IG: @joywcal
FB: @JoyCallawayAuthor