Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period’s glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love. On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic. This Cinderella tale by Kate Alcott (the pen name of the journalist Patricia O’Brien) is set in the textile mills of Lowell. Others including the gallant Midwestern tycoon are not so lucky. THE DARING LADIES OF LOWELL By Kate Alcott Doubleday, 25.95. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon s questionable actions during the tragedy. Based on the actual murder of a mill girl and the subsequent trial in 1833, The Daring Ladies of Lowell brilliantly captures a transitional moment in America’s history while also exploring the complex nature of love, loyalty, and the enduring power of friendship. Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she’s had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic’s doomed voyage. Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young woman who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy.
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