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The Winter Dress cover art

The Winter Dress

By: Lauren Chater
Narrated by: Anthea Greco, Yesse Spence
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Publisher's Summary

Longlisted for the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize.

‘From a few shimmering strands of truth, Lauren Chater has spun an intriguing story of love, loss and fulfilment.’ Pip Williams, bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words

Two women separated by centuries but connected by one beautiful silk dress. A captivating novel based on a real-life shipwreck discovered off Texel Island by the bestselling author of Gulliver's Wife, Lauren Chater.

The brightness of silk in that dull room was like the heavens parting after a storm ... She saw herself remade, no longer a poor laundress but a woman with means.

Jo Baaker, a textiles historian and Dutch expat is drawn back to the island where she was born to investigate the provenance of a 17th-century silk dress. Retrieved by local divers from a sunken shipwreck, the dress offers tantalising clues about the way people lived and died during Holland's famous Golden Age.

Jo's research leads her to Anna Tesseltje, a poor Amsterdam laundress turned ladies’ companion who served the enigmatic artist Catharina van Shurman. The two women were said to share a powerful bond, so why did Anna abandon Catharina at the height of her misfortune?

Jo is convinced the truth lies hidden between the folds of this extraordinary dress. But as she delves deeper into Anna’s history, troubling details about her own past begin to emerge.

On the small Dutch island of Texel where fortunes are lost and secrets lie buried for centuries, Jo will finally discover the truth about herself and the woman who wore the Winter Dress.

Praise for The Winter Dress
'Chater has delivered a beautifully told story that takes an intriguing historical mystery and weaves it into a richly imagined tale that is every bit as breathtaking and beguiling as the remarkable dress it is based on.' Better Reading

Vivid, expansive and richly imagined, The Winter Dress weaves together a fascinating historical mystery and an uncompromising portrait of the possibility and price of female autonomy with remarkable and deeply affecting results.’ James Bradley, author of Wrack

'Wrap yourself in Chater's prose. The Winter Dress is a captivating tale of discovery and obsession by one of Australia's very best historical fiction authors. Absolutely essential reading.' Melissa Ashley, author of The Birdman’s Wife

©2022 Lauren Chater (P)2022 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic Reviews

"From a few shimmering strands of truth, Lauren Chater has spun an intriguing story of love, loss and fulfilment." — Pip Williams, best-selling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words

"‘Vivid, expansive and richly imagined, The Winter Dress weaves together a fascinating historical mystery and an uncompromising portrait of the possibility and price of female autonomy with remarkable and deeply affecting results." — James Bradley, author of Wrack

"Wrap yourself in Chater's sumptuous prose. The Winter Dress is a captivating tale of discovery and obsession by one of Australia's very best historical fiction authors. Absolutely essential reading." — Melissa Ashley, author of The Birdman’s Wife

What listeners say about The Winter Dress

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The Winter Dress

Overall a good story, a bit graphic in places. Some descriptive scenes could’ve been left out.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Interesting story, not yet finished, fighting to stick with it …

But the littany of mispronunciations is doing my head in … anathema (as in an-Athena), ‘archalogical’, ‘deteriation’ to name a few. It’s all the more jarring when a university lecturer is speaking in the first person and can’t pronounce her own written words!

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

Great Story

Fascinating story, great listen. Unfortunately, the edit of the audio file wasn’t done too well. A lot of doubled-up sentences.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Jac
  • 21-07-2022

Machine reader?

I enjoyed the audio but found the poor pronunciation of polysyllabic words surprising. And irritating. If a machine reader, needs an update. Ditto if a person.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful story that I didn’t want to end

What a great book. Enjoyed the story and the way it evolved and really just wanted another chapter and another!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • SJ
  • 29-12-2023

Good story, tainted by poor performance

The present-day performer was robotic and provided little tonal difference between speech, narration and characters, making it less easy and enjoyable to follow. Sometimes a phrase was repeated and not edited out and some pronunciation indicated unfamiliarity with some words. The past-day performer was very good.

The story was of of average enjoyment. Although someone with scuba or material conservation experience may find some scenarios a bit unrealistic.

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

Loved this book

Really interesting, great characters, would love to see the dress in real life. Deserves the 5 stars.

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

Lovely story but should have had Dutch accents

I loved the story and the narrator but it would have been so much better to have had Dutch accent and different voices or tones for the characters.

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

Dutch archeological discovery - fictional?

I found the story so enthralling and enjoyed the connection to the amazing era of Dutch artists .

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

Great story, terrible narration.

Enjoyed the story, but there were many repeats in the rather bland narration, which can really make or break the experience.

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