The Dressmaker
By Kate Alcott
Set against the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, The dressmaker by Kate Alcott, tells the story of Tess Collins, an aspiring seamstress from England who wants to go to America to pursue her dream. By chance, she is taken on as maid to one of Europe’s most noted designers, Lady Lucile Duff Gordon, who invites Tess to accompany her on the Titanic voyage and work with her in her New York salon.
Once on board the Titanic, Tess makes the acquaintance of two men--a handsome older millionaire and a kind, young sailor and struggles to get along with her challenging and intimidating boss. Tragedy soon strikes and Tess and Lady Duff Gordon are separated, but survive on different life boats (as do Tess’s two suitors). Once on land, Lady Duff Gordon coldly ignores the media frenzy surrounding the event and goes about her social life as though nothing has happened. Tess is reunited with her millionaire and sailor and soon learns that there were more terrible events that happened among her fellow survivors that fateful night.
The aftermath of the disaster is where the meat of the story begins as Lady Duff Gordon has to answer for her questionable actions while on her lifeboat at government hearings and in the media. Tess’s loyalties are put to the test when she has to choose between her employer and the two men vying for her heart.
Using fictional characters and actual persons on board the Titanic (the characters of Lady Lucile Duff Gordon and her husband, Cosmo, are real people who survived the Titanic), Alcott vainly attempts to turn a love story into a novel with real life drama and substance. Choosing such a complicated historical event as the backdrop could have been used to make a more substantive story. And the characters could have been better written with more depth and dimension.
Verdict=C- for an interesting premise (the aftermath of the Titanic disaster) and being an easy read.