Morning Tea with Natasha Lester and Belinda Alexandra

In November 1973, a fashion legend vanished, leaving behind only a white silk dress and the question: what really happened to Astrid Bricard?  Paris, 1917: Parentless sixteen-year-old Mizza Bricard makes a vow: to be remembered on her own terms. This promise drives her and her designs through the most exclusive couture houses in France until, finally, a legend is created - one that will endure for generations to come, but not the one she wanted.  New York, 1970: Designer Astrid Bricard arrives in bohemian Chelsea ready to change the fashion world. And she does - but cast in the role of muse to her lover, Hawk Jones. Just as Astrid's star is finally poised to ascend in its own right, she mysteriously disappears, leaving her family in tatters and perpetuating the infamous Bricard family myth.

French Countryside, Present Day: Blythe Bricard is the daughter of fashion's most infamous 70s power couple, but she turned her back on that world, and her passion for it, years ago. Fate, however, has other plans, and in a chateau over a whirlwind couple of weeks, Blythe will discover there is more to her iconic mother and grandmother - and herself - than she ever knew.

These three generations now have one chance to prove themselves. Can the women of the Bricard fashion dynasty finally rewrite their history?

Our event space is wheelchair accessible via a stair lift. Please contact events@betterread.com.au with any additional access requirements and/or questions.

Natasha Lester worked as a marketing executive for L'Oreal, managing the Maybelline brand, before returning to university to study creative writing. She completed a Master of Creative Arts and has written several novels including A Kiss From Mr Fitzgerald, Her Mother's Secret, The Paris Seamstress and The French Photographer. Her seventh novel, The Paris Secret, will be published in March 2020.

Belinda Alexandra's bestselling books have been published around the world, including the United States, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Hungary and Poland. She is the daughter of a Russian mother and an Australian father and has been fascinated by world culture and travel since her youth. She lives in Sydney with her three black cats and a garden full of interesting wildlife.