by Sofia Grant
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Meet Sofia Grant
About the Book
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Author’s Note
Reading Group Guide
About the Author
Meet Sofia Grant
SOFIA GRANT has the heart of a homemaker, the curiosity of a cat, and the keen eye of a scout. She works from an urban aerie in Oakland, California.
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About the Book
Author’s Note
In writing this novel, I took a few liberties with dates, places, and events to fit my imaginary story into a very real chapter in Reno’s history. All my characters are fictional, as are the Holiday Ranch, a few street names and other locations, and several of the restaurants, bars, and casinos in the story.
A notable exception is the Mapes Hotel, which was only five years old in 1952, when my story is set. Prior to its closing in 1982 and demolition eighteen years later, the twelve-story art deco hotel and casino was the jewel of downtown Reno. Many Reno residents of a certain age will remember evenings at the swanky Sky Room at the top of the hotel.
I’ve got no excuse for the inadvertent errors that I’m sure are buried in the novel, but here are several known inaccuracies I included to make my story work:
The Holiday Ranch is not a ranch at all but a repurposed large hotel along the banks of the Truckee River on the west end of Reno. Its fictional location is across the river from some of the grandest homes in town, but the building, riverfront paths, and Gwin’s roadhouse are entirely made up. In addition, while there were several hotels catering exclusively to divorcées in downtown Reno, the best known “divorce ranches” were located outside the city in places like Franktown and Washoe Valley.
Those wishing to ride the City of San Francisco from San Francisco to Reno in 1952 would have left in the evening, not in the morning as Francie and Vi do.
The medical examiner’s building referenced in the story was not actually built until 1959.
Virgie’s idols include existing fictional and real-life characters Nancy Drew and Kate Warne, the first known female American sleuth (whose alias Virgie uses when she visits the police), but George Barton, author of the detective manuals Virgie collects, is made up.
For many years, the stories of women throwing their rings into the Truckee River were thought to be apocryphal, and the Holiday Ranch’s ring toss event was my invention. But in the 1970s, divers found nearly five hundred rings at the bottom of the river, proving the stories had been true.
Finally, a quick note about how Reno became the “Divorce Capital of the World,” a nickname that stuck for six decades, in the first years of the twentieth century:
In the United States, divorce law varies from state to state. In the 1950s, two factors could make getting a divorce difficult, depending on where you lived: acceptable grounds for divorce and the length of residency required by the state. In 1909, Reno put itself on the map by shortening its residency requirement to six months and offering remarkably generous grounds (many of which required no proof), and during the Great Depression, they lowered the residency requirement even further, with an eye toward filling the city coffers. By the 1950s, only six weeks’ residence was required, frequently vouched for in court by the proprietors of the hotels and ranches where women stayed. (Though men also went to Reno to seek divorces, the majority of people who did were women.)
Reading Group Guide
At the end of World War II, women who’d worked in America’s factories and in the war effort were sent home, whether they liked it or not. Though Vi and Francie were not among those who took on “men’s work,” how might the war have affected their attitudes about women’s roles in both the home and workplace?
Virgie is both wise beyond her years and markedly more naïve than modern twelve-year-old girls. How did her unique upbringing shape her views and goals? In what ways did she benefit from her position in the hotel? What lessons and experiences might she have missed out on?
Alice shows a great deal of compassion in accepting her father’s sexual identity and chosen partner. What makes Alice uniquely able to see past 1950s society’s harsh judgment of homosexuality?
Vi’s death leads Francie to a greater understanding of her complex love for her best friend—platonic, familial, and romantic. In what ways do you think Vi returned that love?
As events unfold, it becomes clear that Vi planned her death in advance. How might she have tried to prepare those she was leaving behind, including Francie and her sons? Was her decision an honorable one?
Willy accepts her role as villainess with equanimity but privately chafes at others’ judgment. What might have contributed to her belief that her choices were defensible? Were you able to forgive her decisions, given their context?
In the late 1940s, the widespread use of penicillin provided an effective treatment for gonorrhea, referred to by the slang term “the clap” in the novel. Left untreated, gonorrhea caused ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility in women, not to mention the risk of infecting their partners. Despite penicillin’s effectiveness, many physicians refused to treat infected women, citing morality concerns. How might this “wonder drug” have affected women’s sexual agency? What might have driven a physician to secretly provide it to women, and what risks would he have been taking?
Mary Swanson’s role as the manager of the Holiday Ranch is multifaceted: beyond the usual demands of hotel operations, she is responsible for ensuring her guests’ safety, witnessing their residence, testifying in court on their behalf, and providing amusement and activities to fill their weeks of waiting—all while keeping the press, the curious, and the unwanted visitors at bay. What prepares Mary for the task, and what qualities ensure her success?
The practice of throwing wedding rings into the river was considered apocryphal until divers in the 1970s found decades’ worth of rings at the bottom of the Truckee. Would such an act be satisfying? Should the rings be left where they lie, an invisible memorial to those who passed through Reno’s hotels and courts?
Charlie and Frank are as different as brothers can be, so perhaps it’s no wonder that their relationships with their parents were also quite different. How does each react to their father’s philandering—and their mother’s death? Do you think Charlie makes the right decision to leave his father’s company?
June’s upbringing and life experience are vastly different from Charlie’s. What draws the pair to each other, and do you think they might lead a happy life together?
Both June and Francie are contemplating major life changes at the end of the book. Are they the right ones? Do you think they will succeed?
Praise for Lies in White Dresses
“More than a skillfully woven novel, Lies in White Dresses reads like a black-and-white film that pulls you in from the very first scene. The escalating adventures of three women seeking swift divorces in 1950s Reno are propelled by intrigue, charm, and twists that will keep you guessing until the final credits roll. A memorable, atmospheric tale to savor with a friend and a rum-ginger fizz.”
—Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday and The Edge of Lost
“Sofia Grant entices us into following three women seeking the Reno cure, as they overcome their disillusionment over the lives they expected to have and summon the bravery to embrace new and unexpected paths.”
—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room
“Lies in White Dresses presents one of the most unique plots I’ve seen in women-friendship fiction. Immersive characters bond during a little-known and intriguing slice of American history. It’s a novel that is so hard to put down.”
—Karen Harper, New York Times bestselling author of American Duchess
“A rich and evocative story about the unshakable bonds of female friendship.”
—Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestsel
ling author of In Another Time
“A captivating piece of historical fiction that felt wholly original, Lies in White Dresses is full of secrets, adventure, unexpected love, deep friendship, and characters you’ll laugh with, cry with, and root for with all your heart. I loved it.”
—Kristin Harmel, internationally bestselling author of The Room on Rue Amélie
“Lies in White Dresses will grab your heart and won’t let go, even after you close the cover! . . . Grant serves up the best of female friendship, romance, humor, and enough intrigue to keep you thoroughly engaged. This is a superb read.”
—Beth Duke, bestselling author of It All Comes Back to You
“It’s 1952 and three women are on a train to Reno, each one with her own reasons for ending her marriage. Sofia Grant tells their intersecting stories with insight, tenderness, and grace.”
—Kitty Zeldis, author of Not Our Kind
Also by Sofia Grant
The Daisy Children
The Dress in the Window
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
LIES IN WHITE DRESSES. Copyright © 2019 by Sophie Littlefield. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design by Elsie Lyons
Cover images: © Maja Topcagic / Trevillion Images (woman); © javarman / Ragnarock / Shutterstock (texture); © ezepov / iStock / Getty Images (banner)
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-286187-0
Version 07162019
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-286186-3
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