Review: The Grand Design: A Novel of Dorothy Draper by Joy Callaway

The Grand Design: A Novel of Dorothy Draper by Joy Callaway

Blurb from Goodreads:

The Greenbrier Resort, set at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in both 1908 and 1946, tells the story famed interior designer Dorothy Draper and how the historic retreat and the love she found there as a young woman influenced her bold shift from illustrious New York socialite to world-renowned decorator.

1908: The Greenbrier has been Dorothy Tuckerman’s escape for as long as she can recall—a summer resort nestled in West Virginia where American aristocracy can just be, a retreat surrounded by wilderness, unprotected by gates . . . a place completely unlike her home in Tuxedo Park, New York. This season, however, she’s nineteen, and the summer comes riddled with expectations that threaten to trap her within another set of walls—including an unwelcome marriage proposal from a family friend. But when an Italian racecar driver, Enzo Rossi, appears at The Greenbrier with his uncle, a former financial minister of Italy, igniting suspicion and upending everyone’s plans, Dorothy must come to terms with her definition of liberty, the price it may cost to be truly free, and a newly ignited passion to transform the very walls that once held her captive.

Thirty-eight years later, Dorothy Draper returns to her beloved resort as the head of the first ever interior design firm, world famous and divorced from her high-profile physician husband. But The Greenbrier of 1946 is hardly the glamorous place she once knew. Transformed into a hospital during the war, the hotel is beaten, sterile, and in complete shambles. As Dorothy struggles to complete the most important project of her career, old secrets surface—secrets that threaten to snag the very fabric of the life she’s built—and she must come face to face with the girl she once was, the woman she’s become, and the resort that changed it all.

I was truly transported by this book from its very first page. I loved being in 1908 and 1946 and imagining The Greenbrier in both times. But more than anything, I loved stepping in to the shoes of Dorothy Draper.  She was so interesting, I would read ten books about her.  Now I must go to the Greenbrier and see it as described. I loved imagining this place of history and making so many design decisions without restraint.  For these reasons, I highly recommend this book. 

The Grand Design comes out next week on May 17, 2022, you can purchase HERE!  This book is SO good!!

You're wild and bold, a rhododendron in the midst of greenhouse roses, and I pray that you aren't ever tamed. I'll never see those magnificent blossoms without seeing your face.