APRIL 2016 - AudioFile
Set against the backdrop of the WWII, this audiobook features Ada Vaughan, a young and naïve woman who lives with her parents in London. Through a series of bad decisions and poor fortune, she finds herself a prisoner of war, a situation through which she must rely on her skills as a dressmaker to stay alive. At first, narrator Susan Duerden’s sweet, breathy voice helps to reinforce Ada’s age and personality. However, as the story develops, Duerden’s consistently light tone sometimes sounds at odds with the protagonist as her life takes her down a hellish path. In addition, Duerden’s voice doesn’t achieve the depth required to create convincing male or older female characters. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
Advance praise for The Dressmaker’s War
“Mary Chamberlain’s clear, bright prose is river-swift and Ada Vaughan is a character rich with beautiful, flawed humanity. This is a gripping story about limits and the haunting, brutal way they can be drawn and redrawn in war.”—Priya Parmar, author of Vanessa and Her Sister
“A thrilling story, brilliantly told—I couldn’t put it down. Ada Vaughan is a character to fall in love with: utterly real, flawed, and beguiling.”—Saskia Sarginson, author of The Twins and Without You
“I found myself completely swept up in this tale of love, ambition, and vanity.”—Juliet West, author of Before the Fall
“The Dressmaker’s War is a powerful and gripping tale of longings and dreams, and how a chance meeting that seems to offer the answers and more instead comes with devastating consequences. It’s a story about what a person will do and can do under force. The world before, during, and after World War II is amazingly well-drawn. But it is the character of Ada Vaughan that lingers: her resolve, her passion, and her flaws.”—Cecilia Ekbäck, author of Wolf Winter
From the Hardcover edition.
