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  • The Dressmaker of Dachau

  • By: Mary Chamberlain
  • Narrated by: Julie Teal
  • Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (20 ratings)

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The Dressmaker of Dachau

By: Mary Chamberlain
Narrated by: Julie Teal
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Publisher's Summary

Spanning the intense years of war, The Dressmaker of Dachau is a dramatic tale of love, conflict, betrayal, and survival. It is the compelling story of one young woman's resolve to endure and of the choices she must make at every turn - choices which will contain truths she must confront.

London, spring 1939. Eighteen-year-old Ada Vaughan, a beautiful and ambitious seamstress, has just started work for a modiste in Dover Street. A career in couture is hers for the taking - she has the skill and the drive - if only she can break free from the dreariness of family life in Lambeth.

A chance meeting with the enigmatic Stanislaus von Lieben catapults Ada into a world of glamour and romance. When he suggests a trip to Paris, Ada is blind to all the warnings of war on the continent: This is her chance for a new start.

Anticipation turns to despair when war is declared, and the two are trapped in France. When the Nazis invade, Stanislaus abandons her, and she is taken prisoner, sent to Germany as slave labour, and forced to survive on her wits alone. Resilient at every turn, Ada finds the strength that extremity breeds and survives the only way she knows how: by being a dressmaker.

©2015 Mary Chamberlain (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Critic Reviews

The Dressmaker of Dachau is a thrilling story, brilliantly told. I couldn't put it down. Ada Vaughan is a character to fall in love with: utterly real, flawed and beguiling.” (Saskia Sarginson, author of The Twins and Without You)

What listeners say about The Dressmaker of Dachau

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Strong and sad

This was a story of strength and courage from a young woman during a time of conflick. How she was used and courage to fight back. Found it sad and beautiful at the same time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed it all, what a sad life!

Quite a different style to what i have been used to, no mystery you might think......you could be wrong.
Another snap shot of the war years and innocence with its ensuing atrocities. Your blood will boil reading about male superiority. Was really a good story that is very believable. Julie Teal hasn't let me down, and i feel she only chooses stories of substance to narrate.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Emotional and compelling

Could not put it down. My fastest read ever. Only took me one session so no housework got done....excellent thanks

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A dark, bitter tale

I was curious about the story that was developed around the title and had no preconceptions as to what it might hold. It has a strong and unusual story line that requires some suspension of belief, but any artifice in this regard does not detract from its theme. Depending on your gender, one's perceptions and empathy for the central character may vary, but that said one can't but pity the heroine, the awfulness of successive situations, some not of her making, others because of well intended but disastrous decisions that she makes. Ultimately, the novel provides the reader with a perspective on the dark side of male exploitation of women. As the story unfolded one hoped that the heroine would at last reach some condition of grace and justice, but the ending is a bitter conclusion. Despite the darkness, the story was engrossing and well written.

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