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 Dressmaker (Ham novel) Ham's writing by saying that "Ham does show herself a writer with strong visual gifts and a pleasingly sour sense of humour." Another reviewer said in his review that "The Dressmaker is a delightful first novel that is at times laugh-out-loud amusing and which beautifully captures the narrow, small-minded bigotry of rural townships." In 2001, the novel was short-listed for "Christina Stead Prize for Fiction" at New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and was nominated for "Vision Australia’s Braille Book of the Year" and "Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award". In 2007, it was the finalist at State Library