WAG’s February romance issue previewed “The Bridesmaid’s Daughter,” an affecting memoir of friendship, mother love and madness by Nyna Giles – a former sales representative for Westfair Communications Inc., WAG’s parent company – and Eve Claxton.
Well, the release date for the book is now upon us: “The Bridesmaid’s Daughter: From Grace Kelly’s Wedding to a Woman’s Shelter — Searching for the Truth About My Mother” (St. Martin’s Press, $26.99) is on sale Tuesday, March. 27.
The book tells the story of Carolyn Scott, Giles’ mother, a Midwestern girl who became a top Eileen Ford model in the late 1940s and early ’50s, living at the Barbizon Hotel for Women in Manhattan, where she befriended another resident, a young actress named Grace Kelly, the future Princess Grace of Monaco. So close was their friendship that Scott was one of her Serene Highness’ bridesmaids when Kelly married Prince Rainier in April 1956. But there is a parallel story here, one that picks up after the glamour faded and Scott, now married with three children in suburban Long Island, found herself unmoored. It’s a narrative thread that takes off as it chronicles Giles’ attempts to watch over her increasingly erratic, irrational mother.
“I had always wanted to tell this story, which I think is a powerful story,” says Giles, COO of Giles Communications and a mental health advocate who lives in Pound Ridge.
Giles and Claxton will be on hand for a reading and book signing April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Walker Center for the Arts at the Harvey School in Katonah. The Mental Health Association of Westchester event will include a Q & A, with the $25 admission benefitting the association’s programs.
For tickets, visit mhawestchester.org; for more on the book, visit thebridesmaidsdaughter.com; and for more on the Barbizon Hotel launch party, stay tuned to WAG Weekly. –Georgette Gouveia
