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EA Solinas's Reviews > The Midnight Dress
The Midnight Dress
by
by
In the little town of Leonora, a girl is missing... and later found dead. She wears a dress the color of midnight, stitched by a woman said to be a witch.
And throughout "The Midnight Dress," we are haunted by the question of who killed the girl, and which girl she is (there are a number of them). This lush, bittersweet coming-of-age novel is the sort of thing Sarah Addison Allen would write if she were Australian -- beautifully written, fragrant, and with a hint of benevolent magic woven in.
Rose and her distant father are drifters, roaming from town to town. She doesn't expect to put down any roots when they settle in Leonora, but she does anyway -- an immediate friendship with the quirky, beautiful Pearl. Currently they're approaching the harvest festival, where it's tradition for all the teenage girls to wear beautiful dresses.
But since Rose has no money, Pearl whisks her off to Edie, the local dressmaker -- who is also rumored to be a witch. Edie is willing to help Rose sew a dress made out of midnight-colored cloth, and tells her stories as they work. As the harvest festival approaches, Rose and Pearl experience the pangs of growing up, love, family and -- ultimately -- tragedy.
"The Midnight Dress" is one of those stories that is steeped in beauty -- Karen Foxlee drapes it in ornate fabrics, colored pebbles, the scent of flowers, hidden beaches and many-colored dresses that shine in the darkness. Her prose is soft, lush, shimmering, with clever descriptive prose ("It smells like the bottom of an old lady's handbag, perfumed, powdery, dusty") that gives the mundane a touch of magic.
The story has a touch of magic too, but mostly it focuses on the coming-of-age of Pearl and Rose. Foxlee weaves many other tales into the story, mostly from Edie -- but mostly it's a simple story about how these two girls grow and change over a short period of time. It's a bittersweet story, because you know it cannot end well -- which makes the story all the more exquisitely lovely.
And of course, Foxlee keeps you hanging with the question of who the girl in the midnight dress is, and what happened to her. Every chapter begins with an italicized flashforward, which deftly avoids revealing who she is until the end.
It's a wrench when her identity is revealed, because by then, both the girls have become wonderfully well-rounded, intricate characters. Pearl is bright, enthusiastic and somewhat odd, sending letters to random Orlovs to find her long-lost father; Rose is introverted and hard-bitten from her lonely life, but begins to bloom out into greater confidence and love as she gains friends. And Edie is a character rounded out by her stories, revealing her compassion, sorrows and oddness.
"The Midnight Dress" is a sensual, bittersweet little novel about two girls' friendship, and it leaves you slightly sad but fascinated.
And throughout "The Midnight Dress," we are haunted by the question of who killed the girl, and which girl she is (there are a number of them). This lush, bittersweet coming-of-age novel is the sort of thing Sarah Addison Allen would write if she were Australian -- beautifully written, fragrant, and with a hint of benevolent magic woven in.
Rose and her distant father are drifters, roaming from town to town. She doesn't expect to put down any roots when they settle in Leonora, but she does anyway -- an immediate friendship with the quirky, beautiful Pearl. Currently they're approaching the harvest festival, where it's tradition for all the teenage girls to wear beautiful dresses.
But since Rose has no money, Pearl whisks her off to Edie, the local dressmaker -- who is also rumored to be a witch. Edie is willing to help Rose sew a dress made out of midnight-colored cloth, and tells her stories as they work. As the harvest festival approaches, Rose and Pearl experience the pangs of growing up, love, family and -- ultimately -- tragedy.
"The Midnight Dress" is one of those stories that is steeped in beauty -- Karen Foxlee drapes it in ornate fabrics, colored pebbles, the scent of flowers, hidden beaches and many-colored dresses that shine in the darkness. Her prose is soft, lush, shimmering, with clever descriptive prose ("It smells like the bottom of an old lady's handbag, perfumed, powdery, dusty") that gives the mundane a touch of magic.
The story has a touch of magic too, but mostly it focuses on the coming-of-age of Pearl and Rose. Foxlee weaves many other tales into the story, mostly from Edie -- but mostly it's a simple story about how these two girls grow and change over a short period of time. It's a bittersweet story, because you know it cannot end well -- which makes the story all the more exquisitely lovely.
And of course, Foxlee keeps you hanging with the question of who the girl in the midnight dress is, and what happened to her. Every chapter begins with an italicized flashforward, which deftly avoids revealing who she is until the end.
It's a wrench when her identity is revealed, because by then, both the girls have become wonderfully well-rounded, intricate characters. Pearl is bright, enthusiastic and somewhat odd, sending letters to random Orlovs to find her long-lost father; Rose is introverted and hard-bitten from her lonely life, but begins to bloom out into greater confidence and love as she gains friends. And Edie is a character rounded out by her stories, revealing her compassion, sorrows and oddness.
"The Midnight Dress" is a sensual, bittersweet little novel about two girls' friendship, and it leaves you slightly sad but fascinated.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
April 28, 2015
– Shelved
