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The Dressmaker cover art

The Dressmaker

By: Rosalie Ham
Narrated by: Rachel Griffiths
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Summary

After 20 years spent mastering the art of dressmaking at couture houses in Paris, 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 harbours 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.

©2000 Rosalie Ham (P)2015 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

What listeners say about The Dressmaker

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LOVED IT

Would you listen to The Dressmaker again? Why?

Oh yes.

I bought on a whim as love sewing and i loved this book.

What did you like best about this story?

everything. I am going to let me mum listen to it or buy her the book for christmas. great read, fabulous story and hard to put down whether listening or reading./

hope the film lives up to it.

Have you listened to any of Rachel Griffiths’s other performances? How does this one compare?

none, but id be willing to

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

oh yes and almost did -i had to sleep in between.

Any additional comments?

I normally listen/read to science fiction, but the characters and story really came to life for me. top book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Better than the film

Really good story, kept me wanting to listen, and not to turn it off, twists and turns of the story, set in an Australian small settlement, really enjoyable

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not what I was expecting.

I can't say I didn't enjoy all of it but ... It was strange in parts

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Right up my catwalk.

'The Dressmaker' was thoroughly entertaining, great plot, well voiced and would highly recommend to sewists and more.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Compulsive listening

I loved listening to this entertaining story as I was sewing myself

I really didn't want the story to end...now I shall look forward to watching the film

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enjoyable

this was totally off my normal type of listen. but thoroughly enjoyable. you can virtually feel the heat

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stylish

loved the film and love the book. just right for a summer listen in the garden.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Strange but beguiling

It did take a while to get into this one, but the weirdness and humour got me eventually!
I know some people haven't appreciated the style of the narrator, but I thought she was excellent and you could almost see and feel the heat of small town Australia of bygone days (and maybe still in some places) in her voice.
How Tilly would reconcile her past treatment with living in the town 'now' was intriguing and kept me wondering right to the end - and the final 'scene' created in my mind made me laugh out loud.

There are some very strange characters in the book, and most are not very nice but maybe that's what you find in out of the way places that live by their own rules and distorted morality. And maybe they'll come to realise how twisted they are, maybe they'll get their come-uppance, maybe not...

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

odd, engaging

i started off finding the protagonist spiky and unlikeable, but the more this story unfolds, the more horrified I was about the town and the people in it and the more I rooted for the dressmaker.
would recommend.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting to listen to the book of the film

I think I enjoyed the book because I love the film.

It's all a bit odd. But very moving in parts and the character of Mad Molly is brilliantly written.

I'm glad I listened.

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