The Palace Dressmaker by Jade Beer
Genre: Historical fiction, Dual timelines, Contemporary fiction
Read: 4th January 2025
Amazon
Published: 5th November 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
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, Lucinda Riley and Santa Montefiore.
MY THOUGHTS:
A royal princess. A dress lost for decades. A love story waiting to be uncovered...
Opening at Christie's Auctions in New York in 1997, we dive into the story of the most luxurious dresses made for royalty. Except there's one missing. Lot number 19...
London 1988: As early morning dawns, Meredith hurries to her new place of work. Somewhere she could only dream of working for it's all she's thought of for the past 10 days. And now here it is. As she's ushered into the humble little workshop and introduced to her new colleagues, there is one that stands out to her amongst them all. His attention to detail and his professionalism go above and beyond.
Bath 2018: Thirtysomething Jayne lives in a rooftop apartment in one of Bath's most illustrious addresses. The terraced townhouuse is broken up into little flats of four residences, with the coach house out the back. She's a dogwalker and part time florist, walking the dogs of two of the residents in her townhouse complex. But it's when she's juggling one dog Margot and grappling for the other Teddy's leash, a door opens and there stands their elderly neighbour Meredith. Margot takes the opportunity and races through the open door, leaving Jayne stumbling over what to do. Meredith looks dazed and confused, asking her if she has seen William. That he's missing and hasn't come home.
And so begins the unlikely friendship between Jayne and Meredith. It isn't long before she suspects something is amiss with Meredith. Her flat is untidy, food left rotting, open bottles of milk on the bench, dishes piled on every surface. As haphazard as her flat is, Meredith seems to find comfort in it. But every morning when Jayne greets her, Meredith asks her where William is. And so Jayne sets herself the task of finding him, unravelling the mystery of Meredith's life via a "memory room" that William and Meredith had painstakingly put together and that of the stunning pink silk dress with intricate floral embroidery Princess Diana had worn on her India tour in 1992 which now lays draped over a chair in Meredith's room. Slowly but surely, Jayne enlists the help of the other residents, their neighbours, to help care for Meredith as well as unravel the mystery of the missing William.
It brings to mind the horrid disease that is dementia, slowly stealing the memories we hold dear of our loved ones. Almost everyone in the world will be touched by dementia at some point in their lives, so rife that it is. It is a heartwarming story tinged with sadness. It's plot is somewhat predictable as we too are eager to learn the whereabouts of William.
I loved reading about the dresses that were lovingly created for Princess Diana, their descriptions enough for me to key in to Google and take a look at the finished products themselves. And I have to say...the pink silk with the floral embroidered bodice worn on her India tour is simply stunning. I don't remember ever seeing it. The most iconic photograph from that tour is of her sitting alone on the bench outside the Taj Mahal that everyone knows. But this dress - sorry, gown - is stunning.
Woven through the fabrics of time, the threads of this story come together to create a heartwarming and endearing tale that is both beautiful and poignant.
A must-read for fans of historical fiction, dual timelines and Princess Diana.
Published in the US as "The Memory Dress".
I would like to thank #JadeBeer, #Netgalley and #HodderBooks for an ARC of #ThePalaceDressmaker in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Jade Beer’s journalism career has spanned nearly twenty years having started in newspapers, first at the Guardian as a media correspondent, then the Independent as arts and media correspondent. She later moved to the Daily Mail as a commissioning editor on Femail working across the real life, fashion and beauty content. While she was working at the Mail, Jade was approached by Jo Elvin, the editor of Glamour and asked to be the magazine’s features director. After doing that role for a year Jade became deputy editor and oversaw every element of the brand’s content across features, fashion, beauty, celebrity, shopping and lifestyle and the annual Women of the Year Awards, at a time when the brand dominated the market and frequently sold in excess of 600,000 issues a month.
After another five years at Glamour, Jade moved to IPC as relaunch editor of Now magazine, heading up a team with a brief to completely reimagine the magazine and relaunch it into the highly competitive women’s weekly market. From there she moved back to the Mail, this time as an associate editor on Life & Style and then later as relaunch editor on the Saturday supplement Weekend magazine.
Then the call came from Conde Nast offering Jade the editor’s role on Brides. Shortly after joining, The British Society of Magazine Editors named Jade ‘Editor of the Year’.
Since taking on the title Jade has overseen the print magazine, increasing its market leading position, launched the annual sell out live event, Brides The Show, and overseen the rapid growth of all the brand’s digital channels to a social audience that now exceeds four million. The job means travelling regularly to New York, Milan and Barcelona to cover the international bridal shows.
Jade is the author of four published novels, including The Last Dress from Paris and The Palace Dressmaker (titled The Memory Dress in the USA). Her books are typically set in the glamorous worlds of couture and royal fashion with a strong focus on emotional female relationships and family mysteries.
When she isn’t writing novels, Jade works as a journalist for the national press and has written for Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Tatler, Red, Good Housekeeping, The Sunday Times Style and most British national newspapers.
When Jade is not travelling, she splits her time between London and Gloucestershire where her husband and two daughters live.
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