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The Dressmaker
The Dressmaker: A Novel | Beryl Bainbridge
6 posts | 7 read | 18 to read
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize: This psychological drama set in Liverpool during WWII follows the courtship of a US soldier and an English working-class girl. Rita is a passive and nave seventeen-year-old who has been raised by two middle-aged aunts: Nellie, a curmudgeonly dressmaker obsessed with polishing the furniture, and Margo, a lively widow wise to the ways of the world. Ritas father, whom she calls Uncle Jack, is too busy with his butcher shop the next town over to pay much attention to his daughter. Regardless, surrounded by the ruins of houses bombed in the Blitz, this strange family is bound together as they face wartime life in Liverpool. The government is enforcing stringent rations on even the smallest pleasures, and an influx of well-off American soldiers is wooing all the local girls. Though World War II has dramatically changed the familys standard of living and altered their perspective of the world, Nellie is determined to enforce her traditional ideas about the proper behavior and priorities of the lower middle class. This includes hampering the romantic desires of both Rita and Margo. It is no wonder, then, that Rita starts lying to her aunts about where she goes on Saturday nights. She has fallen in love with a Yankee GI named Ira. Or rather, she has fallen in love with the idea of this young soldier and all that he represents as someone who can make her a bride and whisk her away to a lavish life in the United States. But Ira is hardly the man shes dreamed of, and a relationship is the last thing on his mind. In a sinister turn of events, the years of stifled happiness finally catch up to Margo and she betrays her young niece. And through this transgression, Nellie reveals just how far she will go to enforce her rules, especially when it comes to the furniture . . . Written in strategically-doled-out prose that keeps readers on the edge of their seats, The Dressmaker is a thrilling historical novel about repressed sexuality, sibling rivalry, and the dire consequences of bigotry. An immediate classic in British fiction, it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and made into a film starring Jane Horrocks, Billie Whitelaw, and Joan Plowright. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Beryl Bainbridge including rare images from the authors estate.
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jlhammar
The Dressmaker: A Novel | Beryl Bainbridge
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Pickpick

Well that got dark! This was so my cup of tea. Spare prose, realistic, unsettling. Loved it. My first Bainbridge, but hopefully not my last. Now I might need to try the 1988 film adaptation.

Centique I loved the movie and didnt realise it was a novel. 🙌 Thanks for putting this on my radar. 8mo
LeahBergen Yes! I did NOT see that coming. 😆 7mo
Cathythoughts I‘m still not sure if I read it. But stacking 🥰 3mo
73 likes1 stack add3 comments
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jlhammar
The Dressmaker: A Novel | Beryl Bainbridge
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Monday #bookmail. Loved Ackerman‘s The Genius of Birds so can‘t wait to learn more about owls. And I had to order tagged after the recent rave reviews from @LeahBergen and @Tamra - sounds so good!

Aimeesue Bain ridge is EXCELLENT. So casually dark. Just, you know, evil in an offhand way. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 9mo
LeahBergen I hope you like it, too! 🤞 9mo
61 likes2 comments
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Tamra
The Dressmaker: A Novel | Beryl Bainbridge
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This is a one sitting kind of read. Compulsive with its immediately dark undertone, you know something isn‘t quite right with the members of this family. 😟

Ruthiella I‘ve never read any Bainbridge but have long wanted too. 9mo
BarbaraBB Feeling the same @Ruthiella! @LeahBergen had been recommending her too. 9mo
Crazeedi Adding this new to me author 9mo
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SayersLover Love the orange theme! @Tamra 9mo
LeahBergen It‘s good, isn‘t it? And hard to review without revealing too much! 9mo
Tamra @Ruthiella @BarbaraBB @Crazeedi this is first for me too and her writing is fabulous! Leaves a distinct impression and with much to think about afterwards. My favorite kind of book. Thanks for posting about it @LeahBergen 😘 9mo
Tamra @SayersLover it‘s summer fun! 😊 9mo
Tamra @LeahBergen yes & yes! I can‘t really say anything about the dysfunction of any of the specific characters …… all of it is gradually revealed. 😬 9mo
Jeg I love her books and I have them all. Might be the time for some rereads. 9mo
Tamra @Jeg lucky you! 9mo
66 likes3 stack adds10 comments
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LeahBergen
The Dressmaker: A Novel | Beryl Bainbridge
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Pickpick

In 1944 Liverpool, a sheltered young girl being raised by two middle-aged aunts starts to date an ‘inappropriate‘ American GI.

As one of the blurbs states: “Like the better Hitchcock films Miss Bainbridge suggests a claustrophobic horror all the more poignant for the brilliantly etched domestic setting…”

Don‘t read the Litsy blurb as it‘s best to go in blind here. This one is grim and shockingly good. 😬

Lcsmcat I‘ve liked every Bainbridge I‘ve read. I‘ll have to add this to my list. 10mo
AlaMich The woman on the cover is terrifying! 10mo
Tamra Ohhh, I guess I won‘t read the blurb! 10mo
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LeahBergen @Lcsmcat It was really good! I have Harriet Said waiting on my shelves, too. 10mo
LeahBergen @AlaMich Right?? A more modern cover that I saw has a super attractive, WW2 couple on the cover and this is DEFINITELY not that sort of read. 10mo
LeahBergen @Tamra It‘s just a small, 150 page novel so the blurb gives away big plot points from the last 20 pages. Eek! 10mo
Cathythoughts Stacking immediately 👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻😁 10mo
BarbaraBB Great review. I have always wanted to read more Bainbridge! 10mo
LeahBergen @Cathythoughts 😆😆 I think you‘ll like it! 10mo
LeahBergen @BarbaraBB She‘s so good! 10mo
Lcsmcat @LeahBergen Harriet Said was my first Bainbridge - it‘s excellent! 10mo
jlhammar Oooh, sounds fantastic! 10mo
LeahBergen @Lcsmcat Good to hear! 👏 10mo
LeahBergen @jlhammar It was! 10mo
Aimeesue Ooh, this was a good one! I love Bainbridge - she‘s so dark underneath all the staid upholstery and proper dresses. 10mo
Suet624 Gulp. 10mo
batsy Hi, Leah! Missed you lately. Hope you're well ❤️ 9mo
LeahBergen @batsy Thanks for checking in! I‘m camping around parts of Canada right now with my husband (and Johnny 😆) and I‘ve been super busy. I‘ll have to do a post soon as I found a few more green Viragos in my travels. 😉 9mo
batsy @LeahBergen Oh, that's great! Have a fantastic time. Can't wait to see the haul 🤩 9mo
BarbaraBB Just thinking of you. Glad to hear you‘re busy doing fun things. Enjoy 🩷 9mo
LeahBergen Thanks, @batsy ! 😘 9mo
LeahBergen @BarbaraBB Thanks for checking in! ❤️ 9mo
79 likes8 stack adds22 comments
review
jillrhudy
The Dressmaker: A Novel | Beryl Bainbridge
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Pickpick

Spare and tight. Horror, but in retrospect. The stunner of an ending changes your whole outlook on the characters. A wonderful depiction of a 17-year-old girl trying to create a great romance out of nothing but an oafish young man. #england #wwii #psychological #rationing #racism #minimalist #anglophilesoflitsy

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Aimeesue
The Dressmaker: A Novel | Beryl Bainbridge
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rubyslippersreads ❤️ that hashtag! 6y
Aimeesue @rubyslippersreads That‘s @jillrhudy ‘s tag. We come from a colony of Anglophiles on Good Reads, where we have read many, many , many books together. We‘re spreading out. 😄 6y
LeahBergen That hashtag is the best! 😍 6y
15 likes3 comments