title: The Dressmaker: A Novel
author:  Rosalie Ham 
description: Its clear were visiting a small 1950s town not of history but as imagined by Tim Burton: the gothic, polarized world of <i>Edward Scissorhands</i> Ham has real gifts as a writer of surfaces and pictures, bringing Tillys frocks to surprising, animated life.  <i>The New York Times</i> <i>Book Review</i> <br /><br />The books true pleasures involve the way Rosalie Ham has small-town living down patshe channels welcome shades of British novelist Angela Carters sly, funny, and wickedly Gothic adornmentsBlunt, raw and more than a little fantastical, the novel exposes both the dark and the shimmering lights in our human hearts. <i>The Boston Globe</i><br /><br />With the retribution of <i>Carrie, </i>the quirkiness of <i>Edward Scissorhands, </i>and the scandal of<i>Desperate Housewives, </i>this novel will lend its cinematic qualities to the big screen later this year. <i>Booklist </i><br /><br />Hams descriptions of the materials, colors and fashions of the 1950s are detailed and fun. Tillies secrets are revealed slowly and skillfully, and the final scene is brilliant and satisfying. This is a novel of dark humor, revenge and high fashion.  <i>Historical Novel Society Review</i> <br /><br />[Rosalie Ham] is a true original. Blessed with an astringently unsentimental tone and a talent for creating memorably eccentric characters, Ham also possesses a confidently brisk and mischievous sense of plot. Its no wonder <i>The Dressmaker</i>, a tale of small-town couture and revenge, is being adapted for film. <i>The Sydney Morning Herald</i><br /><br />Hams eye for the absurd, the comical, and the poignant are highly tuned. [<i>The Dressmaker</i>]<i> </i>is a first novel to be proud of, and definitely one to savor. <i>The Weekend Australian</i>
zlib_text: Silk Is For Seduction
  Loretta Chase
   
  
  Dedication
   
  In Memory of Princess Irelynn
   
  
  Acknowledgments
   
  Thanks to:
  The milliners and tailors of Colonial Williamsburg’s Margaret Hunter
  Shop, with special thanks to mantua-maker and mistress of the shop Janea
  Whitacre and tailor Mark Hutter, for helping me with numerous details of
  the art of dress, and for so generously sharing their expertise and
  enthusiasm;
  Chris Woodyard, for her invaluable help with dolls and demolished
  houses and every other pesky question I could think to ask her;
  Susan Holloway Scott, for storms at sea, as well as her usual wit,
  wisdom, and moral support;
  My husband Walter, for his cinematic eye, unceasing supply of
  encouragement and inspiration, and numerous acts of undaunted courage;
  Cynthia, Nancy, and Sherrie, for what they always do
  and, of course,
  Trinny and Susannah.
  
  Contents
   
  Cover
  Title Page
  Dedication
  Prologue
  Chapter One
  Chapter Two
  Chapter Three
  Chapter Four
  Chapter Five
  Chapter Six
  Chapter Seven
  Chapt