Author: Mary Naylus
Nationality: British
Year: 2009
Publisher: Prospera Publishing
Length: 200+ pages
Rating: 7/10
Summary: Wickedly funny
The outline
Thoroughly modern teenager, Picky, is transported back in time to Restoration London when she tries on a old dress in her Gran’s attic. No, seriously.
Sample
'Get ya bets. Make a packet. Which hefty is heftier?'
There are three of us in the running but the odds on Edwina the wheelchair kid are so bad no one places a bet, so it is between me and this girl in Year 11, who brings a roast chicken, complete with chips and gravy, to school. Everyday.
The verdict
I loved the opening to The Dresskeeper so much that I bought the book before I’d even finished the first page of the Kindle sample. Despite its title and cover, which imply a fairly straight-laced historical romance, The Dresskeeper is for a large part a darkly comic look at such modern perils as dementia, body image and absent fathers. In fact, the scenes that are central to the plot where 21st century teenager, Picky, travels through time to the London of the 1600s rarely live up to the sheer wit and exuberance of the sections set in the modern day.
That’s not to say that the past sections don’t have their strong points. Naylus succeeds where many better-known authors have failed and makes the past a living and vibrant place. The past is also where the most moving and poignant sections of the novel take place.
However, despite being the funniest thing I’ve read in years, I wasn’t able to award The Dresskeeper top marks. The novel is littered with plot holes, anachronisms and implausibilities. Some leeway can be given because this is a comedy and a young-adult novel, but they were so numerous they did intrude on my enjoyment of the book. It’s easy to criticise Naylus for this, but her publishers should take some of the blame as they really should have pointed these out.
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