The Dressmaker (2004)

By Rosalie Ham
It must always be so annoying to writers when they read reviews of their work that say things like “yeah it was fantastic but I really didn’t like the ending much’. Writers must thank their lucky stars that they aren’t poor unfortunate film-makers whose ultimate vision is compromised when the test audience decides they’d prefer it if the two main characters got married and lived happily every after instead of dying alone in some garret somewhere after contracting a terminal disease and a broken heart.

So I do apologise to the author for saying this, but…I really did enjoy the book except for the ending. The story is about Tilly, who returns to her childhood town (in country Victoria) to look after her sick mother. Tilly and her mother were the town outcasts when she was young, and she finds that they still are. (Why? Not telling; read the book to find out). Everybody is horrible to her, despite her whipping up fantastic dresses for them all (she became a dressmaker in Paris during her years of exile), except for Teddy McSwiney, who thinks she is beautiful and carefully begins to work on winning her heart. The only other person who is nice to her is Sergeant Farrat, a decent bloke with excellent manners who enjoys sewing his own frocks.

The book is described on the front cover as “an Australian gothic novel of love, hate & haute couture”. It’s a good read, most people get their just desserts, but I felt the end was a bit of a cop-out. I also felt sorry for the poor old Sergeant – in a book where people sort of got what they deserved, I thought he was short-changed. I don't think it’s destined to be a classic or anything, but it was enjoyable and often quite clever – good character sketches, especially. A good holiday read.

(NB: If there really is a town called Dungatar in the wheatlands of Victoria, they must really have it in for Rosalie Ham now).

Rating: 6.5 out of 10