By: Rosalie Ham
ISBN: 9780143129066
Publisher: PENGUIN GROUP Penguin
Publication Date: 8/11/2015
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 4 Stars
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Kate Winslet and Liam Hemsworth, THE DRESSMAKER by Rosalie Ham is a darkly satirical novel of love, revenge, and 1950s haute couture.
After twenty years spent mastering the art of dressmaking at couture houses in Paris, Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage returns to the small Australian town she was banished from as a child. She plans only to check on her ailing mother and leave. But Tilly decides to stay, and though she is still an outcast, her lush, exquisite dresses prove irresistible to the prim women of Dungatar. Through her fashion business, her friendship with Sergeant Farrat—the town’s only policeman, who harbors an unusual passion for fabrics—and a budding romance with Teddy, the local football star whose family is almost as reviled as hers, she finds a measure of grudging acceptance.
But as her dresses begin to arouse competition and envy in town, causing old resentments to surface, it becomes clear that Tilly’s mind is set on a darker design: exacting revenge on those who wronged her, in the most spectacular fashion.
Ham writes beautifully of fabrics and fashion, and paints a vivid portrait of the loyalties and betrayals of a small Australian town. This novel, for readers of The Other Typist and Burial Rights, will have you eyeing both high-fashion magazines and your neighbors in a new light.
The film of The Dressmaker starring Kate Winslet,
Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving and Liam Hemsworth
will premiere October 1st, 2015.
About the Author
Rosalie Ham is the author of three novels. She is the author of The Dressmaker, Summer at Mount Hope and There Should be More Dancing. Her novels are described as having fresh, unusual and entertaining ideas and have sold over 75,000 copies.
Rosaline was born and raised in Jerilderie, NSW and now lives in Melbourne. She holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and teaches literature. Website
Review to follow
