Tales From The Millinery Shop ~ With A Twist

by David Charles Hart

"Tales From The Millinery Shop ~ With A Twist" are stories that relate the experiences of women who work in a shop for the design and creation of women's hats. The era is 1897 - 1924. The shop's location is upstate New York.

Miscegenation laws rule the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The recognition of love between men and women of different races and ethnicity is abhorrent. Moreover, glaring lavishness, unconcealed vice, and blatant promiscuity by professional "courtesans" with men who are engaged in the "sporting life" is the norm for New Yorkers in this Gilded Age era.

The over-sized posh hats the women wear are adorned with birds and their feathers. Opulent in their design and creativity, this aves-style of hat is in great demand by women everywhere ... especially the rich and well-to-do. The women who work in millinery shops constantly strive to satisfy this overwhelming demand.

Herein are the stories of a few of those women. These are their tales of romance and mystery, of success and misfortune, from the easily understood aspects of daily life, to the unexplainable occurrences of strange incidents. These are their stories ... in their own words.

156 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2019

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stories from different women working at the hat store. Some were okay and some were not. In fact, I found one or two so pointless or annoying that I couldn't finish that story.

[Robin Leslie Coxon · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Charles Hart has written an anthology of stories reflecting lives of women who worked within Madame Sophie Mitton's Millinery Shop from 1897 to 1924, the Gilded Age Era. The Millinery Shop was located in Schuylerville, New York which was south of New York City and west of the Saratoga Horse Racetrack. Highly styled hats made for the rich and well to do woman were the specialty of Madame Sophie's shop who employed a variety of nationalities. You will meet not just Madame Sophie but also the stories of Mitizie Schneider - Jewish, Annaliese - German, Lilly Ann from Louisianna who was a Creole Black woman. Adam, a horse trainer and black descent, is the love interest of Annaliese. Their life together provides insight into the racial problems during this Era. Mr. Hart not only included Women's Rights issues but also Racial issues and the Political issues that existed. Teddy Roosevelt serves as Vice-President for President McKinley and is then sworn into office when McKinley is assasinated. Those of lower income feel Roosevelt will deliver the answers needed.
I enjoyed seeing the different personalities in the book but found it difficult to track the storyline.

[Rina Di Raimo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you so much to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Tales From The Millinery Shop" is one of the worst books I ever read and trust me, I have read my fair share of bad books. The story is set in a millinery shop in Schuylerville, New York during the Gilded Age. You can't go wrong; it's a book that writes hitself.
These are stories about women who are trying to do something significant with their lives, women who want to change history, women who want to make a difference but the truth is I didn't read the name of the author, but it took me two pages to understand it was not written by a woman. Women don't talk like that; women are complex; they are not caricatures of some bad tv series set in the last century. More than once, I truly felt that I was watching a bad soap opera with no coherent plot and zero good lines. It reminded me of those fake Spanish telenovelas where everything is over the top. There is almost no narration; it's all questions and answers. It was a nightmare to finish.

[Marie (UK) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. There is far too much of nothing going on covered by phrases such as "can I talk to you Lily Ann" and responses "oh yes please do" - I must have read that a dozen times. There is a whole chapter devoted to the fantasy dreams a man and a woman have about each other whilst traveling in a train - WHY? WHAT was the relevance? A cat trying to talk in the most awful British accent and - just in case you didm t know it was the cat speaking - all his words of wisdom (or not) are preceded by his picture. This author insults the reader with a book that should have ended at the bottom of a very large bonfire rather than in print.

It is certainly the worst book I have read this year, Definitiely for this seasons SRC (mind you it is the only one in that category) it even leads me to wanting to credit books such as "death worn Brown shorts" of "a case of Exploding Mangoes" with literary style. God help me Whatever next

[Trick Wiley · Rating 2 out of 5]





Member Review



Tales From The Millinery Shop

by David Charles Hart

Pub Date: 19 Dec 2019

Review by



Trick W, Reviewer

Last updated on 06 Mar 2020

My Recommendation

 

 

 

 

 

Received this from Net Gallery and I'm so,so sorry but this book was so hard to follow! It has in it the woman who makes these hats,you have Racial issues going on,you have so many stories going on All at the same time I totally got confused! I did enjoy the information and story about Roosevelt and what his story was,women's rights but I think it just could have been written different. I was somewhat disappointed because it really to me looked a great story!!