Description:
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Eugenia Ward had spent the morning minutely going over her personal accounts and all her accounting records online, the same records that had been causing her endless anxiety and sleepless nights for the last eighteen months, ever since the pandemic began. She was a tall, slim, blond, serious-looking woman, impeccably trained as a fashion designer, and had been in the business for thirty-three years. She checked her accounts diligently, while making notes on a yellow legal pad of things she wanted to move and change and watch out for, expenses she could carve out of her overhead, and others she would eliminate from her life if she was forced to. It had been a long, slow process as she did everything to keep her business afloat. She was divorced with five adult children, two of whom she still helped to support. She had started her own company fourteen years before, when she turned forty. She made the most elegant, luxurious evening gowns and wedding gowns. They were ready-to-wear that looked like haute couture. They were worthy of the finest design houses and high-end labels in Europe and the U.S., and a year after she’d opened the doors of her Eugenia Ward stores, she added another dimension, her own haute couture line of evening and wedding gowns, which was her dream come true. They were made to order, entirely by hand, in her own ateliers by sewers who had been trained in Paris. Like some of the finest French designers, she now created both ready-to-wear clothes and haute couture. Her made-to-order handmade gowns were shown, ordered, and fitted in her exclusive private salons. She made it a memorable experience for her clients.
Her business had been a brilliant success and had taken off like a rocket, and much to everyone’s amazement, Eugenia had been able to pay off her investors in five years. She had loyal clients around the world, and had had several offers to buy the business, but she had always refused. Both arms of the business were a gold mine, and she loved what she did. Eugenia was involved in every aspect of the business, with her haute couture gowns made under the label Princess Eugenie and her ready-to-wear line eponymous, as Eugenia Ward.
As a respected American designer, she showed her next season’s line of ready-to-wear gowns at Fashion Week in New York twice a year, in February and September, and her haute couture line in Paris, with the other remaining couture houses, in January and July. She had a store in the Seventies on Madison Avenue in New York for her ready-to-wear gowns, and above it her very elegant haute couture salons, where they had fittings. She also had an office on Seventh Avenue where they took ready-to-wear orders. She had a store on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris, and a business office above it for orders in Europe. It was an impeccably run operation, and extremely lucrative for Eugenia. Until the pandemic hit them like a bomb. The entire world had been in lockdown for months, repeatedly, and curfews were in force around the globe. Social events, even small dinner parties, were canceled, as well as every socialite jet-set wedding. No woman in any city in any country had worn an evening gown in almost two years. Evening wear and the events where one wore it had vanished overnight. Eugenia was one of the most famous and successful designers in fashion history and poured much of what she made back into the business, and in the blink of an eye, she had become obsolete. Now women were wearing yoga pants, exercise clothes, blue jeans and sweatshirts, fleece-lined slippers and running shoes, and down jackets instead of satin evening coats. Their jewelry to go with the evening clothes had been in vaults at home or the bank for almost two years, and the calendars of the most popular socialites were blank.
Eugenia hadn’t arrived at the pinnacle of her success by accident or casually. Her father had wanted her to get a law degree, and her mother thought she should study art history and work at the Louvre in Paris or the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Her parents were serious, conservative, well-educated people from respectable families. Her mother had gone to Vassar, her father to Yale. Her mother had never worked. She played bridge, served on charitable committees, and oversaw their only daughter’s education and well-being. They were good parents. Her father was the president of a New York bank, and both came from solid but not wealthy families. Her mother had gotten a master’s in Renaissance art at Columbia, and painted still-lifes and landscapes in the style of the Old Masters as a well-executed hobby. The walls of the Park Avenue apartment where Eugenia had grown up were covered with her mother’s art.
Eugenia had been passionate about fashion all her life. It fascinated her, particularly the glamorous gowns created for movie stars and famous women. Creating them herself was all she wanted to do. It was her dream. Her parents thought it undignified, irrelevant, and frivolous, but they couldn’t stop her.
Her mother had tried to redirect her artistic impulses into a more educated, intellectual career, and her father thought she would do well as an attorney and tried to convince her to go to law school. But Eugenia’s passion for the fashion world was limitless. She was constantly sketching clothes, and fascinated by the history of fashion and great designers, both in France and the U.S. She made her mother an evening gown for Christmas when she was sixteen. It was inspired by a gown designed by Christian Dior in the 1950s, and she sewed it herself. Her mother was bowled over by it and it fit perfectly. Even her parents didn’t deny she had talent, though they wished she would turn it in a more intellectual direction. But all Eugenia wanted to do was design beautiful clothes for real live women to wear, to make them look like movie stars. Before that, she made clothes for her Barbie dolls that were miniature works of art. She turned them into an art project in college and made a video of them. She had spent hours dressing her dolls as a child, and making their clothes by hand. She made clothes for her friends in school. She was obsessed with fashion.
Her determination to work in fashion was the cause of the first major disagreement she and her parents had ever had. Their relationship had been strong, easy, and harmonious before that. Her mother was properly dressed, but not interested in fashion.
After tearful battles with Eugenia, they had finally given in, and Eugenia had gone to Parsons School of Design, as well as NYU, majoring in fine arts, with a minor in art history to satisfy her mother, and graduated at the top of her class with honors. It had calmed her parents down for a while.
She had done an internship in the haute couture ateliers of Valentino in Italy, right after she graduated, and then worked at Dior in Paris for two years, at first in ready-to-wear and then in the sacred halls of haute couture. It was the high point of her time in Paris.
She came back to New York after two years at Dior, and at twenty-four, was hired by Oscar de la Renta, where she became his head designer and stayed for sixteen years, until she started her own business with his blessing. He was her mentor and advisor, and the man she respected more than any on earth, other than her own father. Oscar thought her immensely talented, which no one denied, not even the critics, who worshipped her and rarely criticized her work. They said she was “inspired,” with an undeniable gift for creating the most glamorous gowns in the last thirty years, gowns that no one wanted now, because they had nowhere to wear them. Eugenia knew they would come back eventually, when the last of the pandemic had skittered away like a rat off a ship, but in the meantime, no one was there yet. People were depressed and suffering the effects of PTSD, after a year and a half of fearing for their lives and watching the world crumble around them.
Reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Novel
This is a great story about the trying times of a pandemic and the affects of a family. The mother being the glue that holds the family together. A worthless ex and children who some are gracious and thankful and one who takes and takes. It’s an outstanding novel and story. Highly recommend.
5.0 out of 5 stars Escapist! Rebuilding Post Covid. HEA!
This was such a satisfyingly escapist read after a summer of clunkers. Sure, DS isn't the best writer but she's a good storyteller. I was thrilled to read about a fashion designer and a real estate investor rebuilding post-Covid. The designer, a mother of 5, is not just concerned about herself, but her garment workers, models, PR staff, & couture seamstresses who were laid off as she diversifies her designs that will employ more. Yes, everyone is rich, beautiful, & at ease in Paris, NYC, & the south of France, but that's what I want! I DNF 3 highly touted "family sagas" where thoroughly unlikeable billionaire families viciously fought over inheritances. This is truly a relaxing, predictable beach read. I may re-read it!
4.0 out of 5 stars good and predictable
I will give Danielle Steel a compliment and a criticism all in one sentence; she writes what she knows and sticks to the formula.It was pretty much like every book she has released in the last 10 years: rich, fashion-obsessed people who jet-set to London, Paris, and NYC with ease. Sure, she loses her fortune for a bit in the book, but don’t fret; she will win it back and maybe even find love again.With all Danielle Steel books, it’s a short book, and not very well written. I have said this for years; she’s a terrible writer, and she just admitted that her publisher doesn’t proofread her books anymore because she’s such a big name, so there’s a lot of errors and things, lots of repeating things. However, she’s a good storyteller; there’s a cozy feeling when you read her books.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great VacationRead!
It had been awhile since I read one of Danielle Steele’s books. While not a literary masterpiece the story and characters are easy to follow and heartwarming. It’s impossible not to love a happy ending.
5.0 out of 5 stars great read
Danielle Steel just gets better and better❤️ I’ve always loved her stories! I live in them! Can’t wait for the next book.
5.0 out of 5 stars Love and romance
This was a relaxing enjoyable read. I have been reading d's for years and I recommend this story for anyone who just wants to relax and dream.
5.0 out of 5 stars Again
I enjoyed yet another of her books. Of course ,it is often predictable ,but actually during these crazy times I want that
3.0 out of 5 stars Can't go wrong with Danielle Steel
Very good writer just not my choice of era's. Good book
Excellent
Beautiful and loving and heart breaking. A mixture of what we look for in life and what we do when we find it. Exquisite story. I could not stop reading until I finished the book at first reading.
Faith
Reading this every morning before work and starting my weekend made me believe again how hope and faith are always the authors inspiration message for me
It was like a live story so real
Fabulous read yet again by Danielle
Excellent book
Wonderful book by an amazing author
Easy reading
Typical DS story line but relaxing to read very quickly.
Visit the Delacorte Press Store
For Richer For Poorer: A Novel
AED15105
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Visit the Delacorte Press Store
For Richer For Poorer: A Novel
AED15105
Quantity:
Order today to get by 7-14 business days
Delivery fee of AED 20. Free for orders above AED 200.
Imported From: United States
At BOLO, we work hard to ensure the products you receive are new, genuine, and sourced from reputable suppliers.
BOLO is not an authorized or official retailer for most brands, nor are we affiliated with manufacturers unless specifically stated on a product page. Instead, we source verified sellers, authorized distributors or directly from the manufacturer.
Each product undergoes thorough inspection and verification at our consolidation and fulfilment centers to ensure it meets our strict authenticity and quality standards before being shipped and delivered to you.
If you ever have concerns regarding the authenticity of a product purchased from us, please contact Bolo Support. We will review your inquiry promptly and, if necessary, provide documentation verifying authenticity or offer a suitable resolution.
Your trust is our top priority, and we are committed to maintaining transparency and integrity in every transaction.
All product information, images, descriptions, and reviews originate from the manufacturer or from trusted sellers overseas. BOLO is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an authorized retailer for most brands listed on our website unless stated otherwise.
While we strive to display accurate information, variations in packaging, labeling, instructions, or formulation may occasionally occur due to regional differences or supplier updates. For detailed or manufacturer-specific information, please contact the brand directly or reach out to BOLO Support for assistance.
Unless otherwise stated, all prices displayed on the product page include applicable taxes and import duties.
BOLO operates in accordance with the laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates. Any items found to be restricted or prohibited for sale within the UAE will be cancelled prior to shipment. We take proactive measures to ensure that only products permitted for sale in United Arab Emirates are listed on our website.
All items are shipped by air, and any products classified as “Dangerous Goods (DG)” under IATA regulations will be removed from the order and cancelled.
All orders are processed manually, and we make every effort to process them promptly once confirmed. Products cancelled due to the above reasons will be permanently removed from listings across the website.
Description:
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Eugenia Ward had spent the morning minutely going over her personal accounts and all her accounting records online, the same records that had been causing her endless anxiety and sleepless nights for the last eighteen months, ever since the pandemic began. She was a tall, slim, blond, serious-looking woman, impeccably trained as a fashion designer, and had been in the business for thirty-three years. She checked her accounts diligently, while making notes on a yellow legal pad of things she wanted to move and change and watch out for, expenses she could carve out of her overhead, and others she would eliminate from her life if she was forced to. It had been a long, slow process as she did everything to keep her business afloat. She was divorced with five adult children, two of whom she still helped to support. She had started her own company fourteen years before, when she turned forty. She made the most elegant, luxurious evening gowns and wedding gowns. They were ready-to-wear that looked like haute couture. They were worthy of the finest design houses and high-end labels in Europe and the U.S., and a year after she’d opened the doors of her Eugenia Ward stores, she added another dimension, her own haute couture line of evening and wedding gowns, which was her dream come true. They were made to order, entirely by hand, in her own ateliers by sewers who had been trained in Paris. Like some of the finest French designers, she now created both ready-to-wear clothes and haute couture. Her made-to-order handmade gowns were shown, ordered, and fitted in her exclusive private salons. She made it a memorable experience for her clients.
Her business had been a brilliant success and had taken off like a rocket, and much to everyone’s amazement, Eugenia had been able to pay off her investors in five years. She had loyal clients around the world, and had had several offers to buy the business, but she had always refused. Both arms of the business were a gold mine, and she loved what she did. Eugenia was involved in every aspect of the business, with her haute couture gowns made under the label Princess Eugenie and her ready-to-wear line eponymous, as Eugenia Ward.
As a respected American designer, she showed her next season’s line of ready-to-wear gowns at Fashion Week in New York twice a year, in February and September, and her haute couture line in Paris, with the other remaining couture houses, in January and July. She had a store in the Seventies on Madison Avenue in New York for her ready-to-wear gowns, and above it her very elegant haute couture salons, where they had fittings. She also had an office on Seventh Avenue where they took ready-to-wear orders. She had a store on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris, and a business office above it for orders in Europe. It was an impeccably run operation, and extremely lucrative for Eugenia. Until the pandemic hit them like a bomb. The entire world had been in lockdown for months, repeatedly, and curfews were in force around the globe. Social events, even small dinner parties, were canceled, as well as every socialite jet-set wedding. No woman in any city in any country had worn an evening gown in almost two years. Evening wear and the events where one wore it had vanished overnight. Eugenia was one of the most famous and successful designers in fashion history and poured much of what she made back into the business, and in the blink of an eye, she had become obsolete. Now women were wearing yoga pants, exercise clothes, blue jeans and sweatshirts, fleece-lined slippers and running shoes, and down jackets instead of satin evening coats. Their jewelry to go with the evening clothes had been in vaults at home or the bank for almost two years, and the calendars of the most popular socialites were blank.
Eugenia hadn’t arrived at the pinnacle of her success by accident or casually. Her father had wanted her to get a law degree, and her mother thought she should study art history and work at the Louvre in Paris or the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Her parents were serious, conservative, well-educated people from respectable families. Her mother had gone to Vassar, her father to Yale. Her mother had never worked. She played bridge, served on charitable committees, and oversaw their only daughter’s education and well-being. They were good parents. Her father was the president of a New York bank, and both came from solid but not wealthy families. Her mother had gotten a master’s in Renaissance art at Columbia, and painted still-lifes and landscapes in the style of the Old Masters as a well-executed hobby. The walls of the Park Avenue apartment where Eugenia had grown up were covered with her mother’s art.
Eugenia had been passionate about fashion all her life. It fascinated her, particularly the glamorous gowns created for movie stars and famous women. Creating them herself was all she wanted to do. It was her dream. Her parents thought it undignified, irrelevant, and frivolous, but they couldn’t stop her.
Her mother had tried to redirect her artistic impulses into a more educated, intellectual career, and her father thought she would do well as an attorney and tried to convince her to go to law school. But Eugenia’s passion for the fashion world was limitless. She was constantly sketching clothes, and fascinated by the history of fashion and great designers, both in France and the U.S. She made her mother an evening gown for Christmas when she was sixteen. It was inspired by a gown designed by Christian Dior in the 1950s, and she sewed it herself. Her mother was bowled over by it and it fit perfectly. Even her parents didn’t deny she had talent, though they wished she would turn it in a more intellectual direction. But all Eugenia wanted to do was design beautiful clothes for real live women to wear, to make them look like movie stars. Before that, she made clothes for her Barbie dolls that were miniature works of art. She turned them into an art project in college and made a video of them. She had spent hours dressing her dolls as a child, and making their clothes by hand. She made clothes for her friends in school. She was obsessed with fashion.
Her determination to work in fashion was the cause of the first major disagreement she and her parents had ever had. Their relationship had been strong, easy, and harmonious before that. Her mother was properly dressed, but not interested in fashion.
After tearful battles with Eugenia, they had finally given in, and Eugenia had gone to Parsons School of Design, as well as NYU, majoring in fine arts, with a minor in art history to satisfy her mother, and graduated at the top of her class with honors. It had calmed her parents down for a while.
She had done an internship in the haute couture ateliers of Valentino in Italy, right after she graduated, and then worked at Dior in Paris for two years, at first in ready-to-wear and then in the sacred halls of haute couture. It was the high point of her time in Paris.
She came back to New York after two years at Dior, and at twenty-four, was hired by Oscar de la Renta, where she became his head designer and stayed for sixteen years, until she started her own business with his blessing. He was her mentor and advisor, and the man she respected more than any on earth, other than her own father. Oscar thought her immensely talented, which no one denied, not even the critics, who worshipped her and rarely criticized her work. They said she was “inspired,” with an undeniable gift for creating the most glamorous gowns in the last thirty years, gowns that no one wanted now, because they had nowhere to wear them. Eugenia knew they would come back eventually, when the last of the pandemic had skittered away like a rat off a ship, but in the meantime, no one was there yet. People were depressed and suffering the effects of PTSD, after a year and a half of fearing for their lives and watching the world crumble around them.
Reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Novel
This is a great story about the trying times of a pandemic and the affects of a family. The mother being the glue that holds the family together. A worthless ex and children who some are gracious and thankful and one who takes and takes. It’s an outstanding novel and story. Highly recommend.
5.0 out of 5 stars Escapist! Rebuilding Post Covid. HEA!
This was such a satisfyingly escapist read after a summer of clunkers. Sure, DS isn't the best writer but she's a good storyteller. I was thrilled to read about a fashion designer and a real estate investor rebuilding post-Covid. The designer, a mother of 5, is not just concerned about herself, but her garment workers, models, PR staff, & couture seamstresses who were laid off as she diversifies her designs that will employ more. Yes, everyone is rich, beautiful, & at ease in Paris, NYC, & the south of France, but that's what I want! I DNF 3 highly touted "family sagas" where thoroughly unlikeable billionaire families viciously fought over inheritances. This is truly a relaxing, predictable beach read. I may re-read it!
4.0 out of 5 stars good and predictable
I will give Danielle Steel a compliment and a criticism all in one sentence; she writes what she knows and sticks to the formula.It was pretty much like every book she has released in the last 10 years: rich, fashion-obsessed people who jet-set to London, Paris, and NYC with ease. Sure, she loses her fortune for a bit in the book, but don’t fret; she will win it back and maybe even find love again.With all Danielle Steel books, it’s a short book, and not very well written. I have said this for years; she’s a terrible writer, and she just admitted that her publisher doesn’t proofread her books anymore because she’s such a big name, so there’s a lot of errors and things, lots of repeating things. However, she’s a good storyteller; there’s a cozy feeling when you read her books.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great VacationRead!
It had been awhile since I read one of Danielle Steele’s books. While not a literary masterpiece the story and characters are easy to follow and heartwarming. It’s impossible not to love a happy ending.
5.0 out of 5 stars great read
Danielle Steel just gets better and better❤️ I’ve always loved her stories! I live in them! Can’t wait for the next book.
5.0 out of 5 stars Love and romance
This was a relaxing enjoyable read. I have been reading d's for years and I recommend this story for anyone who just wants to relax and dream.
5.0 out of 5 stars Again
I enjoyed yet another of her books. Of course ,it is often predictable ,but actually during these crazy times I want that
3.0 out of 5 stars Can't go wrong with Danielle Steel
Very good writer just not my choice of era's. Good book
Excellent
Beautiful and loving and heart breaking. A mixture of what we look for in life and what we do when we find it. Exquisite story. I could not stop reading until I finished the book at first reading.
Faith
Reading this every morning before work and starting my weekend made me believe again how hope and faith are always the authors inspiration message for me
It was like a live story so real
Fabulous read yet again by Danielle
Excellent book
Wonderful book by an amazing author
Easy reading
Typical DS story line but relaxing to read very quickly.
Similar suggestions by Bolo
More from this brand
Similar items from “Family Life”
Share with
Or share with link
https://www.bolo.ae/products/U0593498798