The Dressmaker (Bainbridge novel) 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 an
The Spy Who Loved Me (novel) be no reprints or paperback version of the book, and for the British market no paperback version appeared until after Fleming's death. Because of the heightened sexual writing in the novel, it was banned in a number of countries. In the US the story was also published in "Stag" magazine, with the title changed to "Motel Nymph". Broadly, the critics did not welcome Fleming's experiment with the Bond formula; academic Christoph Linder has pointed out that "The Spy Who Loved Me" received the worst reception of all the Bond books. "The Daily Telegraph", for example, wrote "Oh Dear Oh Dear