Review
by Deb Czajkowski
Do
you believe in magic? Not the
Abracadabra kind nor that of the Harry Potter wizarding world. But the kind of magic that hopes and dreams
are made of, the kind that helps you believe in possibilities and dreams really
coming true?
Etta
not only believes in this magic, she subtly, even secretively, shares it with
her customers in her little dress shop called A Stitch in Time. In fact, her magic is always dispensed in two
ways: one, with a few carefully chosen
words of encouragement and empowerment, and two, six tiny tucks that form a red
star that she sews into the seam of each customer’s new gorgeous gown.
Cora,
Etta’s granddaughter, is a scientist whose life centers around a university
laboratory where her focus is on creating a food that will feed starving
nations, i.e. the next best thing to world peace: solving world hunger. For Cora, if it can’t be scientifically
proven, it just doesn’t exist. So, her feelings about magic? That’s not hard to figure out!
Cora’s
childhood friend, Walt, has always loved books, and he knew from the minute he
first saw the bookstore on All Saints Passage that he’d one day own it. Today his days and most evenings are spent in
his bookstore, but Walt has a secret: He is The Night Reader at the local radio
station. Despite his overall extreme
shyness, his voice is heaven-sent, and his listeners have fallen in love with
him.
We
know Walt’s (other) secret: He gave his
heart years ago to someone who barely acknowledges his presence. Can he get his heart back and move on? Cora learns she has a secret, well, a mystery
really, in the untimely deaths of her parents twenty years ago. Can she solve a case that old? Etta has a secret, too, a very personal one,
one that just might be better left alone.
Or not?
Author
Menna Van Praag weaves what she refers to as magical realism throughout The Dress Shop of Dreams. As I turned the pages that revealed deepest
desires and long-held secrets, I found myself firmly in Etta’s camp. I choose
to believe in her red star magic while I watched various each character’s
reality –and secret- come to light. Van Praag has a delightful way of keeping
her story true-to-life with just enough fairy-dust optimism to keep one hopeful
to the end. The Dress Shop of Dreams
is an enjoyable read.
Purchase
the book at:
About the Author:
Fifteen years ago I
wrote my first novel. Ten years later, with six unpublished manuscripts & a
stack of rejections, I self-published my novella, Men, Money & Chocolate. Nine months later I sold it to Hay House and
today it’s been translated into 26 languages. The sequel, Happier Than She’s Ever Been, followed a year later.
The House at the End of Hope Street was published by Penguin in 2013. Random House will publish my next two novels: The Dress Shop of Dreams (Jan, 2015) and The Cambridge University Witches (Jan, 2016). I’m currently working on my new novel, The Lost Art of Letter Writing.
The House at the End of Hope Street was published by Penguin in 2013. Random House will publish my next two novels: The Dress Shop of Dreams (Jan, 2015) and The Cambridge University Witches (Jan, 2016). I’m currently working on my new novel, The Lost Art of Letter Writing.
Connect with the
author at:
Penguin Random House is giving 1
lucky winner a print copy of
The Dress Shop of Dreams
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