ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Palace Dressmaker by Jade Beer
The Palace Dressmaker by Jade Beer will be published by Hodder on 5th November in paperback, eBook and audiobook. My thanks to the author and the publishers for the proof copy.
A royal princess. A dress lost for decades. A love story waiting to be uncovered…
London, 1988: Meredith has landed her dream job at London’s most prestigious fashion house, creating beautiful gowns adorned with intricate beads and embroidery. But now Meredith is about to create a dress like no other for the most famous woman in the world: Diana, Princess of Wales.
As Meredith pours her heart into this career-defining dress, she works under the handsome and exacting William in the workroom.
William, and this commission, could end up changing her life in more ways than one…
New York, 1997: The red carpet has been rolled out on Park Avenue for the auction of Princess Diana’s dresses for charity. Of the eighty items listed for sale, only seventy-nine will sell.
Because dress Number 19 is missing…
England, 2018: Jayne has met all the neighbours in her new building bar one: Mrs Chalis on the first floor. When she finally meets Meredith Chalis in the hallway, she is taken aback by how upset she seems and offers her help. Entering her home, Jayne immediately knows something is very wrong. The house is in complete disarray and there is no sign of Meredith’s husband.
But then Jayne sees the most beautiful evening dress thrown over a chair and reads the note laid beside it.
Jayne realises that Meredith has an incredible story to tell… and only she can help uncover it…
A sweeping, heartbreaking and inspiring story of a princess, the power of fashion and the importance of love. Perfect for fans of The Crown, The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo and The Royal Librarian.
Give me a book with a royal theme and I will read it. The Palace Dressmaker definitely fits the bill and I particularly liked the focus on Diana, Princess of Wales’ dresses, those designed by one of her favourite designers, Catherine Walker. The story is centred around Meredith, who worked on the dresses in the 1980s and ’90s, and Jayne, Meredith’s neighbour. The two women live in flats within a beautiful Bath townhouse but have never really met until fate intervenes. Jayne realises Meredith needs help and that she has a really interesting back story, evidenced by the stunning dress Jayne spots in Meredith’s bedroom. Eighty of Diana’s dresses were put up for auction but only seventy-nine sold. Is this the missing dress?
I thought this was an intriguing and well thought out storyline. There wasn’t quite as much of a royal theme as I expected but I was fascinated by the talk of the dresses (incidentally, I would have loved to see images alongside the descriptions). It’s very much a story of friendship and of finding the confidence to live your life the way you want to, but also in the way that enriches you most of all. Through her desire to help Meredith, Jayne makes new friends and forges a future for herself that she didn’t know she could have. It’s a book that’s both heart-warming and heartbreaking, as Meredith’s memories spiral further and further away from her.
The Palace Dressmaker is full of heart and warmth, with a soupçon of mystery too. It combines the glamour of royal life with the realities of ordinary life, and ultimately I found it uplifting and poignant.
Love this cover 😀