Thursday, July 14, 2016

Guest Post: What May Have Been by Lynn Steward

ABOUT THE BOOK



As a fashion buyer at one of New York’s most glamorous department stores, Dana McGarry is a tastemaker, her keen instinct for fashion trends and innovative ideas coupled with a razor sharp business sense. But like the elegant and conservative store that employs her, Dana is caught between two eras—between being liked and standing her ground, between playing by the rules and being a maverick. Dana is sensitive and beautiful, but what you see is not what you get. Behind the cool and attractive facade, Dana is both driven by her need to control yet impeded by her expectation of perfectionism. As she competes to replace women at the top of their game, she is challenged by jealous colleagues. And when a wealthy love interest wants to open doors and support her ambition, she embraces Coco Chanel’s mantra of “never wanting to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.” As the women’s movement paves the way, Dana finds a path to the career she wants at the expense of happiness that was not meant to be.


Steward captures the nuances of 70s life in New York City and provides the perfect backdrop for an independent woman determined to make her mark. What Might Have Been is a story that transcends any period.

LINKS

Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR




Lynn Steward, a veteran of the New York fashion industry and a buyer on the team that started the women’s department at Brooks Brothers, created the Dana McGarry series, set at a transformational time in the 1970s world of fashion and in the lives of multigenerational women. What Might Have Been is the second volume in the series. A Very Good Life, Steward’s debut novel, was published in March 2014. 

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The story behind the book


I always enjoyed business-related writing and thought a non-fiction self-help book with life-lessons would be a fun project. But, as often happens when you put yourself out there, I discovered another path and took it: I developed a TV pilot about New York in the seventies. As they say “Write what you know” and I know New York. I’m a native of Long Island, and between attending school and working, I spent twenty-two years in Manhattan. I was so overwhelmed with ideas, the TV series expanded to five seasons! Appropriately placed in New York City 1975, which was International Women’s Year, the series’ plots intermingle fashion legends and icons, real events, and untold stories, providing a behind-the-scenes look at multigenerational women in the world of art, fashion, and business.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that the main character Dana McGarry needed more drama and the plots had to be developed; I felt the best way to do that was to write a novel.  A Very Good Life, inspired by the pilot and season one, was published in 2014. What Might Have Been, volume two, is loosely based on season two. 

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