From a new novel about weddings, women, and the world of work…
By Susan Schneider
Known to wedding industry insiders as the Angel of Bridal, Sara Mason, fashion editor of Your Wedding magazine, takes her seat at the Vera Wang show. Sara is uncomfortably aware of Keith Harvey, a man who has aroused something quite new in the hard-working, unmarried editor’s heart.
“She feels no peace until she settles into her chair in Vera Wang’s showroom. Works of art float by: a blush tulle number with three huge bows–one at the waist, one at the shoulder, and one at the hem–and a lilac faille mermaid silhouette dress with a draped bodice. She’s mesmerized by a sumptuous ball gown in black taffeta–utterly unbridal in the usual sense–that today strikes her as daringly sexy, beautiful in a vampirish sort of way that leads her thoughts back to the evening she’d spent in Keith Harvey’s loft.
It’s as if that night, months before, were last night. She can’t forget about him, the way she’d melted into his arms, forgotten everything. She slips her hand into her purse and touches his business card; she’d put it in the little pocket that holds her lipstick and compact for quick access. But now that she’d seen him with that awful model, she knows she won’t call him.
‘Sit back, for goodness’s sake, I can’t see the train,’ she hisses at her assistant, Courtney. Courtney ignores her. The last several dresses have gone by without Sara even noticing. Her mouth is dry, and she pops in a stick of gum, lets the sweetness burst. Of course, it won’t last. She keeps her eyes fastened on the surreally slender, melancholy girls wafting by, wearing the most romantic dresses on earth. As each model rounds the bend, there’s a whisper-soft, lush rustle. You have to listen for it, you have to make an effort to notice it beneath the soft clicking of the cameras. It’s the sound of this world’s soul, its very fabric, a secret revealed to only a few of them. It’s as familiar to Sara as the whisper of her own breath.”
St Martins Press Pub date:
June 7, 2011 Available by preorder on amazon.com, www.susanschneiderauthor.com, facebook.com/TheWeddingWriter.
Liza Allen says
Susan was recently fired from her job at Bridal Guide when the magazine’s publisher and owner found out about the book.
Grace Bennett says
Susan announced gracefully to attendees at her recent reading at the Barnes&Noble that she was let go. The good news? She has an exciting new career ahead of her promoting her wonderful book.