Editorial Content for Tiffany Girl

Prolific and bestselling author Deeanne Gist has successfully completed yet another fabulous novel. With just the right amount of humor, drama and lots of fascinating historical tidbits, Gist has fashioned a page-turner that will have readers beckoning for a sequel. The story begins with a brief prologue that offers just enough background information on Reeve Wilder, who as a small boy loses his mother and then is given over to his cold-hearted grandfather for raising.

Fast forward some 22 years later in 1892 when preparations for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago are underway. Louis Tiffany, heir to the Fifth Avenue jewelry empire, is eager to display a state-of-the-art stained glass mosaic chapel when a glassworkers’ strike threatens his plans. Not to be defeated, Tiffany goes on the hunt for other workers and finds just the right employees at the New York School of Applied Design to fit the bill. Of course, Tiffany’s prospective workers are women who are excited for the opportunity to work for Tiffany and advance themselves in an otherwise male-dominated field.

"With just the right amount of humor, drama and lots of fascinating historical tidbits, Gist has fashioned a page-turner that will have readers beckoning for a sequel."

Enter the spirited Flossie Jayne, a beautiful and accomplished young lady whose mother sews for the elite of the elite by day. Flossie, an artist at heart who assists her mother to help pay for her father’s gambling debts, loves nothing more than to paint. Flossie is “discovered” at the school by Tiffany; she quickly goes to work for him but must cross the picket line to do so. Getting mussed and spit upon doesn’t hinder Flossie from pursuing her dream to advance herself as a New Woman, one who works and can support herself. Her parents, though, are not supportive of her decision to take employment away from home and are even more distressed when she begins lodging at a boardinghouse.

It is at this particular boardinghouse where Flossie meets Reeve, a writer who eventually patterns his stories after Flossie without her being aware of it and to whom she becomes romantically attached. Headstrong but lovable, Flossie wins over the other boarders and soon has them all running to her tune. Sadly, though, after being swindled by a pretend art dealer and subsequently falling deeply into debt, she loses her Tiffany position and has to work as a servant in the boardinghouse. In the midst of her personal and financial crisis, Reeve leaves and starts facing his own childhood demons as a man.

Flossie does her best to rebuild her life and her relationship with her parents, while Reeve grows and matures during their time of separation. The two eventually reunite under some novel circumstances.

TIFFANY GIRL is so well researched and laid out that readers will be reluctant to put it down before they’ve read it in its entirety. But put it down they must since it exceeds 500 pages in length. As always, Gist’s fans will not be disappointed by her engaging style of writing and how vividly she brings to life her unique characters and the times they are placed in history.