Title: Dressing the Dearloves
Author: Kelly Doust
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 20 August 2018
Pages: 416
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction
My Rating: 4.5 Cups
Synopsis:
“One crumbling grand manor house, a family in decline, five generations of women and an attic full of beautiful clothes with secrets and lies hidden in their folds.”
Fashion designer, Sylvie Dearlove is coming home to England, ashamed and feeling like she has disgraced the family name. When she arrives home, her parents inform her they are finally selling the crumbling, old, and no longer, grand manor, Bledesford, where her family, The Dearloves, has lived for generations. Sylvie has spent her whole life wanting to escape being a Dearlove and the pressure of belonging to a family of such headstrong, important and successful women.
Tail between her legs, Sylvie begins to help her parents prepare the house for sale and discovers an attic full of old trunks and tea chests filled with elaborate old dresses and accessories from all over the world, belonging to her female ancestors, five generations of Dearlove women.
Sifting through the past, she also stumbles across a secret, which has been hidden in plain sight for many generations. A secret that will change the way she thinks about herself and her family.
My Thoughts
Even though Dressing The Dearloves is the first book I’ve read by Kelly Doust, I knew straight away, I was really going to enjoy her writing.The book opens with internet search results for Sylvie Dearlove with glowing reviews on her designs and how successful she was and then…
“So there you have it-a star is born. We have every single item on order, and can’t imagine a future now-nay, even a second-without Sylvie Dearlove’s sumptuous designs adorning it. Order *here…[*there appears to be a problem with this link]’
This automatically gives you the impression something is wrong and there is!
“I was devastated to hear the news today that Dearlove-beautiful brainchild of English aristo Sylvie Dearlove-is shutting down!!!”
Kelly writes in a way that makes you feel great empathy for Sylvie and her successful, but fleeting career.
“Either way, this fashionista for one will be sad to see Dearlove go. Sylvie’s pieces always seemed to echo some truth beating strongly in my own heart. She created clothes I didn’t even know I wanted until I saw them, in all their heavenly, must-have glory.”
I really enjoyed Kelly’s descriptions of Sylvie’s designs and I felt sad that she had to close down.
Her trip back to England, feeling so ashamed that she had disgraced the Dearlove name, was also fraught with complications.
“It’s not news that the Dearloves have fallen upon tough times, with the family seat a shadow of its former glory, but the tiny brunette was looking worse for wear in what appeared to be pyjamas and stripped of makeup...She allegedly stole coins belonging to a homeless person.”
It also appears that her fall from stardom could have resulted in a secret liaison, she would rather forget and as she is trying to distract herself, she stumbles upon a photo which causes her great guilt.
“There was one of Gisele...pictured beside Ben and his best friend Josh...She was filled with a fresh wave of shame.”
I loved the descriptions of Edwardian England and the garments and events of those times.
The link between Edwardian England and modern day England was very well constructed and I was looking forward to the connections between these places and the characters. Kelly did not disappoint, the links were very obviously explained and beautifully woven in together.
The character of Lizzie was portrayed extremely well and it soon became evident that, she and not the more famous, Gigi Dearlove was the link between them. I didn’t like some of the things she did, but I certainly understood why she did them. There was one event which I thought was very cruel.
“Victoria had slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep, and when she’d woken, she could have sworn that her baby had been on her chest, suckling at her breast, mewling contentedly...but when she was properly awake and able to focus...she saw Lizzie’s sombre expression...and realised, with horror, that something had gone terribly, horribly wrong.”
Not a spoiler, but I I think Lizzie did the right thing in the end. It did cost her and it eventually explained her relationship with her daughter, Gigi. I enjoyed watching Sylvie’s relationship with her parents change and as she grew to know more about the Dearloves, she appreciated her mother a lot more. As the book progressed to the end, Kelly answered all the questions and all the puzzle pieces were connected nicely together.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book. It was a very entertaining and at times deeply moving read, with lots of twists and turns along the way.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release
No comments:
Post a Comment