Orchids and Diamonds // The Fortuny Gown
Laker, Rosalind
Working in the high fashion world of early twentieth-century Paris, lovely Juliette Cladel falls in love with a young Russian count and sculptor, Nikolai Karsavin, but the young lovers soon find themselves separated by family duties, war, and revolution.

It's 1907 and Juliette Cladel arrives in Paris fresh from the convent to be launched into the world of Parisian haute couture. Beginning her fashion career at the prestigious House of Landelle, Juliette meets and falls in love with a dashing young Russian count. But good fortune does not smile on the ill-fated pair. Nikolai must return home to take up his family duties and Juliette finds herself trapped in Italy by the Great War. Years later, Juliette is the protegee of the great couturier Forthuny and Nikolai is a sculptor in earnest, his noble world destroyed by revolution. Can they take up where they left off what seems like a lifetime ago?