Meh.

The reviews for this book seemed pretty high and I've seen it around a lot. I was not too impressed. The darkest parts of the book don't at all show a realistic view of what happened during that period, and the less severe moments were painted as awful catastrophes. Also, the theory of pain affecting genes I thought horribly misplaced the overall theory.

Overall, this was disappointing. Not impressed.

I really liked this book. It was a time slip story from the 1940s and 2017. I think I worked really well as Harriets story set in the present was well told from her traumatic events of losing her mother and how this set her on her path to where she was and ultimately what she learnt along the way as the story of her grandmother Claire was told to her from her friend Simone who she flat shared with in Paris who’s grandmother Mireille was Claires friend during the war. Harriet has gone to Paris on an internship ship for a year, she is living above the agency where she is flat sharing with Simone who is already there. It’s when harriet is unpacking and Simone sees a photo that she tells Harriet that one of the women in the photo is her grandmother Mireille and Harriet asks her to find out from her grandmother about hers and there life in Paris during the war. Simone warns her that she may not like what she hears. There are three women in the old photo as the story unfolds you start to hear about the lives of the three seamstresses on how they lived as best they could in circumstances none of us now could even think possible. Impossible choices had to be made as loyalty is tested and what they endure is a dark and difficult time lived through courage and support for one another. This was sensitively written and i would like to know more about Mireille’s life after the war as we found out in this one of the other two. I will most definitely will read more by this author

The modern part was completely unnecessary and the end dragged because of it. The historical parts were good if you’re into WWII female resistance stories.

For me, these books are perfect during a pandemic! Many of the description are beautiful but the modern voices in all of her books don't work as well as the historical stories. The narratives are too simple, forced and repetitive. That said, I'm devouring these books like candy. What I do love, are the interwoven characters from each book, the multilayering of stories and Valpy's ability to draw me into WW2 France. They may be formulaic Valpy but there's a warmth I love.

DNF at 27%. I normally love this dual timeline style of writing but nothing grabbed my attention and drew me in.

Worth it

The Dressmaker's Gift was a very slow read. For me, it didn't get interesting until chapter 6. Then I couldn't put it down!

Interesting dual strand narrative, with the modern day protagonist a granddaughter of one of the three young women who are the focus of the wartime narrative. There are some plot devices that are a little too convenient for the sake of the narrative - the modern day heroine in an attempt to find herself not only works but lives in the same Parisian building where her own grandmother also lived and worked? What are the odds? The really compelling chapters take place in the past; three young seamstresses not only work in a Parisian couture house, but also work for the French resistance. There are some harrowing passages with two of the girls as they're arrested by the Gestapo and eventually sent off to concentration camps as political prisoners. Once I got to the halfway point, I really wanted to know how both stories would resolve themselves. It's a good story, not a great story, but I felt as if the WWII chapters were well enough researched that you got a sense of what it was like to live and resist in occupied France. I did enjoy elements of the modern day story due to the continuing fashion theme. The world is a little crazy right now, and I want some escapism. While the terror of the past and present is part of the narrative, remembering that people throughout history have been willing to do what is right at the risk of their lives.

This was a decent read, requiring no brainpower whatsoever. A somewhat vacuous premise based on fashion, of all things, gives the reader access to a fairly solid WWII story of resistance and friendship. I found myself not caring much at all for the modern-day protagonist of the story but very much liking the 1940s-era narrator, recounting her story as an aged woman. That was slightly unbelievable, the amount of detail in a story related to another and written in correspondence, but the tale was engaging enough to excuse it. I chose this as an easy quick-consumption vacation read and it fit the bill.

The writing is beautifully descriptive, I liked most of the characters, and the plot was believable and sensitively done. I enjoyed it very much.