The Dressmaker (Bainbridge novel) role. The Dressmaker (Bainbridge novel) The Dressmaker (US title The Secret Glass) is a gothic psychological novel written by Beryl Bainbridge. In 1973, it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like many of Bainbridge's earlier works, the novel is semi-autobiographical. In particular, the story was inspired by a relationship that she had with a soldier as a teenager. The characters of Nellie and Margo were based upon two of her paternal aunts. Set in Liverpool and Lancashire during World War II, a repressed dressmaker and her sister struggle looking after their 17-year-old niece, who is having a delusional affair with
The Dressmaker (Ham novel) of Victoria's Most Popular Novel. The book also made the Victorian Certificate of Education reading list three times. A new edition of the book with the cover featuring Kate Winslet as Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage was released by Penguin Books on August 11, 2015 in USA, Canada, and by Macmillan Publishers in Australia in September, 2015. In the UK, it was published by Serpent's Tail on October 22, 2015. On July 30, 2015, Ham appeared at the Melbourne International Film Festival's event "Books at MIFF" to discuss the book's transition into film, along with Sue Maslin, Jocelyn Moorhouse and original publisher