Welcome to my weekly post where I look back at some of my four and five star reads before I started Nicole’s Nook.
Today’s book: The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott
Publisher: Anchor
Publication Date: February 21, 2012
Date Read: September 10, 2016
Favorite Quote
“You know one of the best things? Women gathering, marching, doing anything together makes a lot of men go crazy. They yell and scream and taunt and shake their fists. You know why? They’re scared. They’re scared we’ll actually gain power and force them to change.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker
Goodreads 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.
My Thoughts:
The irony of the unsinkable ship that sunk on it’s maiden voyage has fascinated people for over a century now. I’ve read several books about the doomed ship, but this was the first to focus on the aftermath and the trials that followed. Tess was a relatable character who evolved throughout the story from a naive girl to a confident woman. A must read for any titanic fanatic.