Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Can her heart be mended too?
After losing her fiancé and her dream job in the same week, Garland Fairford's life is turned upside down.
Having recently met a long-lost relative - Honey Fairford - through her work as a historical costumier, Garland is intrigued when Honey reveals she is opening a Wedding Dress museum in Lancashire. With nothing to lose, Garland accepts the offer of a job there.
What she doesn't expect is to come face-to-face with a ghost from her past - her old friend, Thom, who mysteriously disappeared years ago.
As Garland begins reading the stories behind each of the beautiful wedding dresses, and sets about repairing both them and her relationship with Thom, could this finally be the chance for her own happy-ever-after?
Many thanks to Random House UK via NetGalley for copy of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
I’m always a bit dubious when there is a character list at the beginning of a book and in this case there was two pages of characters mentioned as to who they were and how they connected to the story. Why is there the need for it? Does it mean that I am going to be confused throughout wondering who is who so much so that I will have difficulty keeping track and it will in turn disrupt the flow of the story for me? Will I have to refer back to the list often? Thankfully, here in Trisha Ashley’s new book, The Wedding Dress Repair Shop, I didn’t have to do this although the further I delved into the story I came to appreciate the inclusion of the character list.
I haven’t read a Trisha Ashley book in quite some time and how I would sum this one up is quirky, and I mean that in the best of ways. It’s different from the usual women’s fiction I read and I loved how it wasn’t the done to death routine of boy meets girl, they fall in love, there is a bit of angst and boom they are together. It’s been done to time and time again and sometimes I just need a change from reading it. Instead, here Trisha has given her readers an engaging story with characters that are all different and have their own unconventional and idiosyncratic ways but you love them all the more for it.
Given the title, I expected the plot to follow someone working in a dress shop that specialises in wedding dress repairs but there is so much more to it than that and it’s not a traditional wedding dress shop. Well in fact it’s not a shop at all but rather a museum which has a peculiar theme at its centre. Initially, the idea of a museum dedicated to wedding dress misfortunes sounded completely off the wall and just that bit too far out there but trust me it works and as the chapters slip by you find yourself completely caught up in the stories of the various dresses and how they came to be placed in the museum. So within the book itself, there are several little stories which help the book to become inviting and intriguing. Two stories in particular really caught my attention with their sense of mystery and I loved how they played out towards the end.
What really makes this book though is the characters. Each has been so carefully thought about and even their names I found to be quite eccentric which only added to the quirkiness of the book and made me smile. The chapters are interspersed with diary entries from Regency actress, Rosa May Garland, who vanished in 1816 after the birth of her twin sons not long after her marriage to Guy Fairford. It details how her freedoms were curtailed once the shackles of wedlock had been placed upon her and how she longed to return to the stage. Initially, I did question why this diary was included alongside the modern day story? But the more the book progressed the more it began to make sense to me. Without Rosa May and her diary the main female protagonist in the present Garland Fairford would never have met crime novelist Honey Fairford and the delightful story that unfolded and the new life that Garland establishes for herself, well she would never had the opportunity to flourish in the way she does over the course of the book.
Garland has her dream job as a historical costumier in London and one day she hopes she will take over as head woman in her department. Garland is viewing an exhibition where she sees Rosa May’s costume that she wore when she played the role of Titania in a Midsummer Night’s Dream. The costume has been donated by Honey as she found it in Pelican Hall in Great Mumming which she inherited from Her Great Uncle Hugo. Rosa May’s journal was found tucked inside the dress and this is how the reader is able to read the extracts from it. Garland encounters Honey and they discover that they are distantly related and so sets in motion the most wonderful of friendships that I really enjoyed reading about and seeing its development.
I adored Honey. She had such an acerbic edge packed full of sardonic comments and really her productivity in terms of her writing and her establishment of the museum of wedding disasters and disappointments alongside the Rosa May collection was nothing short of incredible. I loved everything about her character. She was always on the go and seemed to have an amazing group that gathered around her and it was almost as if they created a family where everyone was welcomed and valued for their talents and personality. She was like a mother hen who gathered her chicks around her and when she met Garland I think she instinctively knew that she needed help and change. That her life in London was reaching a point where if she continued much longer then she wasn’t going to be happy. Yes Garland was happy in terms of the work she was doing but as for her personal life well the reader could easily see that it was about to go spectacularly off track.
Alongside Honey, Garland was my favourite character and I enjoyed reading of the journey she underwent. Her life implodes when on the same day she discovers fiancée Marcus cheating, her reaction to said situation sees her losing her job. Marcus was a playwright who was so caught up in his own ego that he came across as being so pompous and ignorant that in my mind Garland was way better off without him. He was like a bad smell though that just wouldn’t go away and I desperately hoped that she wouldn’t get sucked back in by his supposed charm. He needed her much more than she needed him. I admired how Honey offered Garland a fresh start in Great Mumming in a little mews cottage and in doing so she also acquired someone who knew all about old dresses and preserving and recreating them.
For Garland accepting the job as museum curator was a dream for her and the descriptions of Pelican Hall and the cottages and studios all alongside each other and the market square of Great Mumming was all wonderful and added to the homely feel that pervaded once she left London. Throughout, I sensed there were mentions of other places near to Great Mumming which I initially surmised that they featured in some of Trisha’s earlier books. They did start to ring a bell but specific details evaded me as it had been a good while since I had read said books but the mentions I think would inspire new readers to go back and discover Trisha’s back catalogue.
There is a whole host of characters introduced once Garland arrives and starts to settle into her new life and prepare the dresses for the opening of the museum. Too many to mention here but needless to say I found them all very interesting and each with their own little unique stories to share alongside those of the dresses that Garland begins to work on. It’s a small and cohesive community where it’s impossible not to get sucked into the company of others and perhaps this is for the best of everyone. One person I will mention is Thom. Garland gets quite the surprise when she discovers him living in a mews cottage. Thom is someone who had a significant presence in her life many years ago and then one day he just wasn’t there anymore and she had no idea where he went. To say, I was intrigued as to what was going on here would be an understatement. There were lots of undercurrents between the pair and let’s be honest about things, now that Garland was a free woman, I was desperate for the pair to clear the air and get together. But whether that occurs or not you’ll have to read this story for yourself in order to find out.
The Wedding Dress Repair Shop was an enjoyable read although I did think it was just that little bit overly long. It’s not one where you judge the book by its cover as there is so much more to it than the cover suggests and between the pages Trisha Ashley has given her readers a delightful story full of wonderful characters, new beginnings, second chances and friendship.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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