The Grand Design

Real-life interior designer Dorothy Draper and her renovation of West Virginia’s Greenbrier Resort anchor this transportive historical from Callaway (Secret Sisters). In 1908, a young Dorothy bristles at the stuffiness of her high-society upbringing and the pressure to find a suitable husband among the elite families who summer at the Greenbrier. Loathe to marry her best friend, the preferred choice of her parents, Dorothy falls for a handsome Italian guest of “paltry breeding.” Callaway interpolates a second timeline set after WWII: snubbed by high society because of her divorce and professional aspirations, Dorothy forges a path as an enterprising designer. The success of her business depends on her ambitious makeover of the Greenbrier, and mounting expenses and self-doubt raise the stakes ever higher. Callaway’s dialogue captures the cadences and concerns of the American upper crust, and the society drama is sure to please fans of such aristocratic historicals as The House of Mirth and The Gilded Age. The result is an elegant testament to succeeding on one’s own terms. Agent: Kate McKean, Morhaim Literary. (May)