The Golden Gown

Elizabeth Manigault has not been in the attic of her parent’s home since she was a little girl. She opens the trunk that contains the ball gown of exquisite Chinese golden silk. The dress shimmers even in the dim light of the attic. She spots a small cardboard box: written on the end is “Margaret Elizabeth Manigault – Letters 1849 – 1865.”

Thus begins a voyage of discovery through Meg’s letters that carries her back to when eleven year old Meg writes to her best friend’s older brother William, a 49er in the California Gold Rush. Meg expresses a childish wish for a gown of gold. A decade later, William finally fulfills her wish, only to fall in love with the beautiful Meg wearing the fabulous gown. It also serves as her wedding dress during the Civil War that finally destroys the very way of life that it was meant to preserve.

Meg stores the gown in a trunk, for in 1865, Charleston no longer has the grand events at which to wear it. There it stays for a century and a half until it finally brings Meg and Elizabeth together across the years.