The Dressmaker: A Novel by Kate Alcott
Last year there was a lot of coverage about the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I watched a lot of different specials and at least one of the new movies. While the movie was a work of historical fiction, the specials were more factual. I found them to be really interesting as the people involved discussed what happened and could have been prevented. They went through a lot of different evidence and explained their theories about the events surrounding the Titanic. The novel The Dressmaker is a work of historical fiction and does not center itself around evidence. It is the story of a young woman who survived the Titanic and the events of her life immediately afterwards.
Tess
is, for lack of a better term, a servant.
She hates the life she is living and is determined to change it. Trained as a seamstress, Tess wants to become
a fashion designer, but she must escape her current situation. Fed up, Tess leaves her job and goes to the
Titanic before it sets sail. Tess does
not know how she will get on the ship, but Tess knows she must find a way in
order to achieve what she desires. This
is her opportunity to become who she wants to be.
As
luck would have it, Tess encounters the famous fashion designer Lady Lucile
Duff Gordon. Tess convinces Lady Lucile
to take her on as a maid and gains her passage onto the Titanic. While she is not thrilled to be a servant,
Tess is determined to take advantage of the situation. It could be just the opportunity she needs to
get into the fashion world.
It
does not take Lady Lucile long to figure out Tess’s true intent is not to be a
maid. She encourages Tess’s aspirations,
in her own way. Lady Lucile’s first
interests are her own, so she will entertain Tess’s when it suits her. Despite this, Tess is thrilled at Lady Lucile’s
attentions.
Then
the Titanic hits the iceberg. Fortunate
to have been moved to one of the upper floors, Tess is able to get a
lifeboat. She helps save two children
and attempts to take a third. Once in
the water, Tess helps row the boat and even pulls someone out of the water in
an effort to save them as well. She and
others on her boat truly try to do all they can. This is not the same situation on Lady Lucile’s
lifeboat. What happens there results in
extreme scrutiny and changes how Tess sees everyone and everything around her.
The
rest of the book involves Tess trying to find her way in America while learning
the truth about the people she has come to trust. A female reporter, Pinky, becomes her friend
despite all Pinky does to bring the true Lady Lucile to light. Tess also becomes torn between two men she
met on the Titanic, one a sailor and the other a well-off man. With so many changes and conflicting stories,
Tess finds it difficult to figure out the truth of everything and what will be
best for her in the end.
This book is a really interesting look into what happened to people after the sinking of the Titanic. So often this is not covered, just the actual sinking of the ship is. But there is so much that happened in the aftermath: trials, survivor’s guilt, and people just trying to move forward with their lives. It was really great to read about this piece of the Titanic event. While Lady Lucile drove me crazy, I really liked Tess and understood all her conflicting feelings. She reminds us that for many the Titanic did not end with the sinking of the ship. There was a lot that happened afterwards that should not be forgotten.
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