My breath was taken away by how she richly portrayed Tess, Lucile, Pinky and Jim and their feelings, their stress of the ordeal that followed them after the sinking. What is so beautiful about this book is how Alcott has taken the tragic story beyond the sinking and so wonderfully imagined their lives, and ordeal as survivors. I was sad when I knew my time with Tess was coming to an end. From the cover, to the author’s notes providing details about the facts and the fiction on to how this story seamlessly and beautifully weaves two together. For a few wonderous nights Tess is able to experience the beauty of the Titanic and is where she meets Jim, the sailor and Jack Bremerton, the dashing millionaire. Tess will do anything to be given the opportunity to become part of Lucile’s world and to prove that she is an expert dressmaker, including that of becoming her personal maid. By chance she meets Lady Duff Gordon (Lucile), world-renowned fashion designer. Tess decides in a moment of spontaneity to leave behind the life of wretched servitude and walks out to where the Titanic is docked in search of a new life. It takes us into the lives of a few of the survivors, into the immediate Senate hearings following the disaster and in particular in to the life of Tess Collins (fictional), Pinky Wade (fictional), Sir and Lady Duff Gordon (actual), Jim Bonney (fictional) and Jack Bremerton (fictional).Īlcott weaves some fantastic fiction with the actual in our main heroine, Tess Collins. We know the Titanic, we know what happened on that horrible evening, we’ve seen the epic film, but this novel takes us beyond the sinking of the ship. This 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 (some taken from Goodreads) is an engrossing read weaving the actual with the fictitious from the Titanic tragedy. The Dressmaker, by Kate Alcott comes just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic (May 1912).

What caught my eye was the cover, as you know I do indeed judge a book by its cover and this one was striking (in my opinion).

I was able to read this gorgeous gem of a book courtesy of Netgalley for Knopf Doubleday publishers.

The dressmaker titanic