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
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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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