Fiona Valpy

The Dressmaker’s Gift by Fiona Valpy is a historical fiction novel set in nazi occupied Paris during WW II. It is the story of three young women who work as seamstresses for a designer. They live together in a small apartment on the 5th floor of the building that houses the designer’s workshop. While on the surface the three are going about their lives as best as they can in the difficult times but in actuality, all three have secrets as some are working for the Resistance and one is dating a German officer.

The author does an admirable job in her descriptions of 1940s occupied Paris and the plot although rather familiar in feel, is gripping. As with many historical novels today, we follow two timelines, one set in the 1940s and one set in modern times. In this book, I thought the double timeline worked quite well as a way to recount the past, as a granddaughter traces her family history through her grandmother’s war time activities. On the other hand I felt the book got a little clunky in the telling of the modern story as the author tried to make parallels between the two stories that just didn’t work.

Nevertheless, I thought The Dressmaker’s Gift was interesting and certainly held my attention with the details about the French fashion industry and the war-time conditions in Paris. Overall the book was a well-told account of survival and friendship.… (altro)