The Midnight Dress

Starred review from September 9, 2013
It’s the mid-1980s when lonely 15-year-old Rose Lovell and her recovering alcoholic father wash up in a tiny Australian beach town. Against her better judgment, she allows herself to be befriended by exuberant, beautiful Pearl Kelly, who sweeps Rose up into various whims and projects. The procurement of a dress for the upcoming Harvest Parade brings Rose to Edie Baker, locally considered to be a witch. As Edie teaches a reluctant Rose to sew a gorgeous midnight blue dress to wear in the parade, she recounts tales from her past that become the backdrop for both the deepening of Rose and Pearl’s friendship and its eventual dissolution. Not unlike an expert seamstress herself, Foxlee (The Anatomy of Wings) skillfully weaves multiple stories throughout this novel, including eerie, reader-directed chapter openers that portend future tragedy for the girls. The casual beauty of the language (“She leans forward. There’s a sudden applause of rain on the roof”) and the complex storytelling style create a haunting, atmospheric novel about friendship, betrayal, and loss. Ages 14–up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, Inkwell Management.

January 6, 2014
This haunting story alternates between the present—in which local police in a smalltown Australia try to solve the murder of a girl whose body was found in a midnight-blue dress—and the past, which details the circumstances leading up to the crime. In those earlier events, 15-year-old Rose comes to town with her shiftless drifter father and becomes fast friends with a girl named Pearl. Seeing that Rose cannot afford a new dress for a town event, Pearl suggests she visit eccentric Edie for help sewing one—thus the midnight-blue dress is born, setting into motion a tragic chain of events. Narrator Mackenzie-Smith is Australian and thus ably provides authentic accents for the characters. She lends Edie a distinct voice, but doesn’t clearly differentiate Rose, Pearl, and their schoolmates—and this can be confusing to listeners. Mackenzie-Smith’s narration is clean and clear, if somewhat uniform, and the murder mystery and significance of the dress will keep listeners engaged until the very end. Ages 14-up. A Knopf hardcover.

December 13, 2012

This suspense novel took me by surprise—not just the ending but how enjoyable it was! This is the second novel from Karen Foxlee, who won several awards for her debut The Anatomy of Wings. The Midnight Dress is the story of a misfit teenager, Rose Lovell, whose mother has died and whose father drinks too much and moves around Australia with reckless abandon. Father and daughter move to a place called ‘Paradise’, where Rose forms a friendship with popular, pretty Pearl Kelly, who just wants to leave her small town. The story starts out with a disappearance that leaves the reader wondering what exactly has happened. It’s not clear who has gone missing and how each of the characters are involved. This is a beautifully crafted story that builds in tension to the final page. It starts out as a quiet read, but it sneaks up on you and leaves quite an impression. Foxlee has described the places and the people immensely well. I would recommend this novel for suspense readers and those looking for something well written. (Read the interview here.)

Melanie Barton is senior category manager at Bookworld.com.au