Do you like it?

Ours was a quick courtship. We had been dating for five months when we first started talking about marriage. So I did what any sensible girl would do when faced with a prospective groom, I began to look for a ring. By June, I had found it. My next move was to leave a message on his voice mail with the item code and ring size. His next move? A proposal a week later. 

But as anyone who is married knows, the true story begins after the vows are exchanged. J. Courtney Sullivan smartly adheres to that principle in her novel The Engagements. But first, she introduces Frances Gerety.  In the opening pages, we meet Frances who not only creates an ad slogan, but the tradition of proposing with a diamond engagement ring. Following Frances through her career, we discover with each new ad campaign how she remakes the diamond’s image according to the mineral resources, and pocketbooks, of each decade. 

Interspersed throughout Frances’ tale, are the stories of four couples. We read about their courtships, engagements, affairs, and disappointments. And of course we find out about their rings, which reflect the expectations and fashions of each time. By housing each couple in a unique setting and only revealing their story in parts, Sullivan succeeds in building genuine interest.  

Although she skips from Philadelphia to Paris, from 1947 to 2012, Sullivan rewards the patient reader by cleverly tying the five stories together toward the end of the novel. The ending is almost as gratifying as hearing those four little words. And saying yes.