#BlogTour-‘The Dressmaker’s Gift’ by Fiona Valpy

About the book…

From the bestselling author of ‘The Beekeeper’s Promise’ comes a gripping story of three young women faced with impossible choices. How will history – and their families – judge them?

Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets. War-scarred Mireille is fighting with the Resistance; Claire has been seduced by a German officer; and Vivienne’s involvement is something she can’t reveal to either of them.

Two generations later, Claire’s English granddaughter Harriet arrives in Paris, rootless and adrift, desperate to find a connection with her past. Living and working in the same building on the Rue Cardinale, she learns the truth about her grandmother – and herself – and unravels a family history that is darker and more painful than she ever imagined.

In wartime, the three seamstresses face impossible choices when their secret activities put them in grave danger. Brought together by loyalty, threatened by betrayal, can they survive history’s darkest era without being torn apart?

Biggest and most grateful thanks to ed public relations for the blogtour invite and my gifted paperback copy of ‘The Dressmaker’s Gift’ which is available in ebook,audiobook and paperback formats from Lake Union publishing.

This novel cleverly flips back and forth between the now(narrated by Harriet) and the ‘then’ of 1940-1945(narrated  by the three semastresses) and provides a different view of World War 2 that I had not previously encountered.

The concerns of Harriet and issues that were clouding her life were replaced with her self made mission to uncover the secret of her grandmother’s life in Nazi occupied Paris. In the unravelling of the lives of Claire and her friends Mireille, and Vivienne, she is not only closing the gaps in her knowledge of her family tree, Harriet is also solving the mystery of herself.

Movingly written with great heart and immaculately researched, the love of true friends can support and sustain you through life altering trauma-there is a focus on the phenomena of inherited trauma and I found reading about this, piqued by the afterword, absolutely fascinating. The central concept is that much in the same way that some mental health conditions are thought to be hereditary, trauma can alter genes and have an effect on future generations.

As much as I enjoyed Harriet’s quest into her family history, I loved the details of fashion in this period-I hope that does not sound flippant, but my knowledge of the dressmaking industry in World War 2 was limited to the restrictions on dressmaking placed by rationing. I had no idea that couture houses still worked tirelessly to produce hugh fashion throughout the war and it gave me an enitrely new perspective, and respect , for those who were able to do this.

The contrast between the life in the concentration camp and the high fashion catwalks of Paris is paradoxical in  intensifying the tragedy of those who died there in such squalor, as well as emphasising the risks that these brave women took to be a part of the French Resistance . It is the same as when contrasting the work of Harriet, in a couture house because of her links to her grandmother, to Claire’s daily life-the challenges are very , very different .

Harrowing, life-affirming and a reminder of no matter how much we think we know about WW2, there are always more tales to be told, and that we need to keep on telling so that we never forget the sacrifices and acts of courage that individuals made for today’s freedom, this book is perfect for fans of Between The Regions Of Kindness and The Rabbit Girls

About the author..

Fiona Valpy spent seven years living in France, having moved there from the UK in 2007. She and her family renovated an old, rambling farmhouse in the Bordeaux winelands, during which time she developed new-found skills in cement-mixing, interior decorating and wine-tasting.

All of these inspirations, along with a love for the place, the people and their history, have found their way into the books she’s written, which have been translated into German, Norwegian, Czech, Slovenian and Turkish.

Fiona now lives in Scotland, but enjoys regular visits to France in search of the sun.

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