The Dressmaker

"...[A]n exposure, both grim and nostalgic, of an existence so joyless it turns pathological." - New York Times Book Review, 1974 "This spare and lethal piece must be one of the best novels of 1973. Within the most astringent limits, Miss Bainbridge has created a sense of powerful emotions, has given a most tremendous sense of time and place. The writing is lithe, economical and muscular....Miss Bainbridge...uses a simple device that forces the reader to start again at the beginning immediately the last page is finished..." - Books & Bookmen, January 1974