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 Spook Who Sat by the Door (novel) of Freeman in the CIA," Greenlee, a former US Army officer and United States Information Agency officer told "The Washington Post" in 1973. "Everything in that book is an actual quote. If it wasn't said to me, I overheard it." "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" is a critical reflection upon the racism, violence, and oppression lived by African Americans in the United States. As such, the novel is a manual on how to be a successful revolutionary, by beating The System at their own game. The character of "Dan Freeman" demonstrates the importance of co-operation among oppressed peoples