When Flora Toussaint was a young woman she found herself in the unhappy predicament of being pregnant to an older man. After giving birth to twin girls, she reluctantly hands them over to their father and flees to Ireland with no intention of ever returning to France.
Fast forward 18 years, Flora is now working in a parachute factory in WWII when she is approached by British intelligence. They suspect the girl's father, famous couturier Lucien Lumineau, is a collaborator. More alarmingly, one of her daughters has disappeared.
Taking the opportunity to leave her unhappy marriage, Flora finds herself living in a room above a brothel, her nearest neighbour is a singer named Edith (as in Piaf) and she is tasked with finding out whether Lucien is indeed a collaborator. It also gives her the chance to find out what happened to her daughters. She had believed that Lucien was raising both of their daughters with his glamourous wife Sabine, but it turns out the truth was very different.
Whilst working in the wardrobe department at the famous Moulin Rouge, Flora is able to use her skills as a seamstress to not only help maintain the gorgeous costumes but she also helps develop an ingenious way of delivering messages across enemy lines using a simple code. With the help of her Paris contact, a Paris wine merchant, she is able to work out her own complicated history and maybe find a future. It won't be without danger and challenges though!
There is a lot that happens in this book, and at least two things that I was surprised by. I was also a bit surprised when I realised that there was a character from the previous book, The Resistance Knitting Club which I reviewed here, that played a key role in this book. Don't let that worry you though. I didn't make the connection until I was looking to see if Tomas had appeared in the earlier book or not.
I mentioned Edith Piaf but she isn't the only big name cameo to make an appearance. Lucien's work as a designer brings him into contact with the great, the good and the not so good in Paris!
I am already looking forward to the next book in this series. If I was to hazard a guess, I think the next book might feature Marguerette and it might feature crocheting! Of course, I could be wrong!
I am sharing this review with New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the blog tour below.
Rating 4/5
The Secret Dressmaker
Shelves of sequins in a kaleidoscope of colours. Bolts of silk and tulle against the back wall. The sewing room was the last place anyone had seen her daughter alive.
Northern Ireland, 1942. Flora Toussaint packs parachutes for the RAF, haunted by the twin daughters she was forced to give up eighteen years ago. When British intelligence shows her photographs of her girls – now young women in occupied Paris – her world shifts. One is safe. One has vanished. And their father, the celebrated couturier Lucien Lumineau, is suspected of collaborating with the Nazis.
Flora agrees to a dangerous mission: parachute into France, pose as a seamstress at the Moulin Rouge, and uncover the truth. Lodging above a brothel where Edith Piaf sings after hours and where Pablo Picasso still holds court, she mends costumes between shows, searches for any trace of her missing daughter between curfews, and circles closer to Lucien.
But Lucien isn’t the man she remembers. Neither is their history. And what Flora discovers will unravel everything she thought she knew – about Lucien, about her daughters, and about the night she gave them away.
A sweeping tale of wartime Paris, family secrets and impossible choices. Fans of Kate Quinn, Pam Jenoff and Kristin Hannah will be mesmerised by The Secret Dressmaker.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Dressmaker-Jenny-OBrien-ebook/dp/B0GSVGSK36
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Dressmaker-Jenny-OBrien-ebook/dp/B0GSVGSK36
Jenny has over 40 years experience as a qualified nurse. She turned to creative writing as a hobby when her children were born. Now, 20 years later, she's retired from the day job to focus on writing. She's currently working on the third book in the Threads Series.
Born in Ireland, she now lives in Guernsey with her husband and children.
Social Media Links – https://www.facebook.com/JennyOBrienWriter/
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