"My Dear, here is lesson number one for using opportunity; waste no time in false humility. Tell the world about your achievements don't wait for someone else to do it."
- Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker
Review by Kathren
Book Synopsis:
Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young woman who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy.
Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she's had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic's doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.
Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy. Others—including the gallant Midwestern tycoon—are not so lucky.
On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic. Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period's glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love.
General Overview:
I have a thing for sewing as you can see from my page, and Chase has a thing for Titanic. He saw that this book had elements of both and decided that we were going to read it together, so, naturally, I read it alone. Regardless of that whole silly situation, I enjoyed it.
Plot:
The story takes place during the whole Titanic crisis. However the part of onboard the Titanic/Titanic sinking was only a small part of the entire book. The focus was mainly on the criminal trials that took part after the sinking, and the trials of a young woman trying to make her way in America after the turn of the century.
Characters:
The main protagonist, Rose, is a young woman who has worked most of her life as a lowly servant/seamstress with dreams of leaving the servant life behind behind and becoming a designer. Her chance at such a life comes with famous fashion designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon(based on the real Lucile Duff Gordon) who takes Tess on as a servant so that she can go to America with her on the Titanic. Tess meets her two love interests onboard the Titanic, they typical much older rich man who can't help but notice this ambitious young girl who is definitely going places, and the rough but kind-hearted sailor who understands her on a level no one else can. Then, there is the ambitious reporter Pinky who does her best to leave the shadows of both her father's legacy and the trials of being a female reporter at the turn of the century.
Final Thoughts:
There are so many aspects of this book that I like and that I didn't like. I liked that it was a true coming out story, a girl must figure out what she will do with her life given the magnificent opportunities provided to her. It's a historical-fiction novel, so there is a history lesson embedded in the story for the unwitting reader. However, being a person who likes to sew, as mentioned before, I was confused about the parts of the story that gave the book the title "dressmaker" in that they described sewing with terms that made no sense. For the... I'll call them average people (to avoid "normal" implicating that I'm not "normal" which I'm not... but I don't like to admit it)... average person, these details would be meaningless, but for myself trying to picture the clothes that the main character was seeing and sewing was near impossible, especially using the techniques she described. I will say, overall the book was good, I would probably read it again.
Plot:
The story takes place during the whole Titanic crisis. However the part of onboard the Titanic/Titanic sinking was only a small part of the entire book. The focus was mainly on the criminal trials that took part after the sinking, and the trials of a young woman trying to make her way in America after the turn of the century.
Characters:
The main protagonist, Rose, is a young woman who has worked most of her life as a lowly servant/seamstress with dreams of leaving the servant life behind behind and becoming a designer. Her chance at such a life comes with famous fashion designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon(based on the real Lucile Duff Gordon) who takes Tess on as a servant so that she can go to America with her on the Titanic. Tess meets her two love interests onboard the Titanic, they typical much older rich man who can't help but notice this ambitious young girl who is definitely going places, and the rough but kind-hearted sailor who understands her on a level no one else can. Then, there is the ambitious reporter Pinky who does her best to leave the shadows of both her father's legacy and the trials of being a female reporter at the turn of the century.
Final Thoughts:
There are so many aspects of this book that I like and that I didn't like. I liked that it was a true coming out story, a girl must figure out what she will do with her life given the magnificent opportunities provided to her. It's a historical-fiction novel, so there is a history lesson embedded in the story for the unwitting reader. However, being a person who likes to sew, as mentioned before, I was confused about the parts of the story that gave the book the title "dressmaker" in that they described sewing with terms that made no sense. For the... I'll call them average people (to avoid "normal" implicating that I'm not "normal" which I'm not... but I don't like to admit it)... average person, these details would be meaningless, but for myself trying to picture the clothes that the main character was seeing and sewing was near impossible, especially using the techniques she described. I will say, overall the book was good, I would probably read it again.
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