‘The girl from the shantytown was going to seize this opportunity, and if she defied every odd and became wealthy and successful no-one could ever touch her.’

Dressed By Iris is another wonderful Australian saga by author Mary-Anne O’Connor. Set in the 1930s it covers everything from the Great Depression to the building of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. Having read Mary-Anne’s other books, I knew she would once more provide her readers with strong female characters and I was not disappointed.

Mary-Anne does a wonderful job of capturing the life of average Australians from the era. The main focus here is on the Mitchell family - poor Irish Catholics who not only faced great poverty but also great prejudice. It is the eldest daughter, Iris, who has an incredible talent for fashion creations, which Mary-Anne highlights inclusive of the exploitation and sexism surrounding the industry at the time. It brings with it glamour that perfectly balances out the harsh reality of life for many.

‘You should have let me say something,’ he said.
‘What can you say? That you’re Protestant? That would only make things worse.’
John shook his head. ‘What the hell is wrong with people?’
Iris sighed. ‘It’s only words. Sticks and stones...’
‘But, it’s not, is it? It’s attitude. Belief.’ He looked over at her. ‘It does just as much harm. Maybe more.’

The joy of this book though is through the interactions of the Mitchell family. What a joy! The way they unite through challenging times and just how important love and support is especially given the crippling circumstances of the time. Iris’ mother, Agnes, was the foundation and very heart of the family from her cooking to her enormous courage proving inspirational. The inclusion of Natasha, Iris’ friend, was a pure delight - not only her mannerisms, support, encouragement but her humour was a definite highlight.

Mary-Anne’s, ‘Author’s Note’, at the conclusion shed light on her inspiration and how some characters had been modelled on family members. It also explained certain correlations of the fiction and facts surrounding some of the key aspects from her story. All up, Dressed By Iris provided a wonderful window into the Australia of the early 1930s with detailed depictions of one girl’s dream combined with the unwavering faith, love and support of her family. A joy to read.

‘What should we drink to?’
‘Mum,’ Iris said.
‘Oh no, not me,’ Agnes said, ‘I think we should drink to Iris. This is her dream.’
‘It’s yours too,’ Iris pointed out. ‘It’s all of ours now.’
‘To dreams then,’ Jim said.
‘Yes,’ Iris said, looking over at John and smiling. ‘To dreams coming true.’







This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

I have read other Mary-Anne O'Connor books and love her strong female characters. This book, like her last, is choc full of them. From the title character, Iris, to Natasha and lovely dear Agnes; they are all strong determined women who go after what they want with gusto. Love the authors notes at the end of the book talking about her family, the inspiration for the story. Australian historical fiction is brilliant and this lovely book is no exception!

Can I just say WOW, WOW and WOW what an amazing story so beautifully told, Mary-Anne O’Connor has taken me on a journey back to the 1930’s starting in Newcastle then in Sydney during the days of the depression, the finishing of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to meet the Mitchell family, it is heart-felt and heart-warming as we see this family struggle through hard times but never give up hope and their positivity, a must read, come along and meet them all and the beautiful Iris who designs the most gorgeous of clothes.

Living in a shanty town is a struggle for this catholic family but Agnes the patriarch never gives up and when her eldest daughter Iris is given a ribbon from her hopeful boyfriend John Tucker and a cloche from her father for her seventeenth birthday she shows such promise in designing things and is encouraged to earn a few pennies to help out with the family. Soon the family get the opportunity to move to Sydney as her brother Jim gets a job working on the Harbour bridge, this means leaving John Tucker behind even if their future was not certain because John is Protestant.

Living in Sydney Iris is soon working as a cleaner in one of the big stores in Sydney but at night she designs clothes at home which she loves, here she meets Natasha a model for designer Caron and they become good friends and when Natasha see the clothes that Iris is designing she insists that she show them to Caron, Iris is not sure about this but soon she is moved from cleaning to the fourth floor and designing but is not treated the way she should be.

Iris has never forgotten John and when he arrives in Sydney the feelings are still there but this is problems because of religion and her parents are against their being together. John is working for a Sydney newspaper and he meets Natasha and she helps bring him and Iris together and just in time when John is there to save Iris and also has John and Iris’s brother becoming good friends.

Life was hard in the 1930’s and the Mitchells have to fight some terrible people as they fight to put food on the table and stand up for justice and honesty in a hard world, I loved this story so much and the Mitchell family Bob, Agnes, Jim, Iris, Helena, Tom, Billy and Rosie what they went through had me cheering them one, the faith and hope they held in their hearts showed courage and strength. There were some lovely happy times throughout this story and there were times I was crying, it is an emotional story, the characters are easy to make friends with, this is a story that I would highly recommend. I loved that the author used her family history to put this story together, it is a brilliant story.

My thanks to Harlequin AU for my copy to read and review

This book is set in the time when the Catholics and the Protestants didn't mingle, or marry. Life is hard for the family, but Iris' mum always manages miracles and they have each other.
Iris has a talent to design and make fashion. But the challenges of this dream are the basis for the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tale, and even cried a few times. Another stunning story by one of my favourite authors!

In 1930, Iris Mitchell is seventeen and living in a tiny shack with her catholic family in Newcastle. Her dad Bob's a carpenter and he's still struggles with the terrible memories from the Great War. His wife Agnes is a wonderful mother to her six children, Jim, Iris, Helena, Tom, Billy and Rosie, and she’s an expert at making a meal out of a few ham bones and vegetables.

John Tucker’s a protestant, he’s extremely fond of Iris and he gives her a purple ribbon for her birthday. Iris loves fashion, sewing, and she makes a stunning cloche hat and decorates it with John’s gift. When Jim’s offered a job building the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the whole family move, and it might be for the best that Iris can no longer see John, her parents wouldn’t let her date a protestant man and no way could she marry one!

Iris starts working at a department store as cleaner, and her earnings go straight into the family’s money tin. They family live in a small cottage and to Agnes's delight it has a wooden floor, and they make room for Iris's sewing machine. At work Iris meets Natasha Jones, she’s a model at Caron’s, and despite coming from different backgrounds, and they become the best of friends. Iris takes Natasha home, and she’s worries what she will think of her families humble living arrangements and I don’t why she's concerned? Natasha has no idea how talented and unique Iris's creations are and she has a remarkable gift. Australians love to gamble, horse racing is popular in the 1930's and Phar Lap is a national treasure, and Jim becomes a bookie. The underworld of Sydney is full of nasty characters, corruption is rife and his parents worry about Jim's safety?

Dressed by Iris is a story about grabbing every opportunity that comes your way, a family staying united through the good times and the bad, and working hard to be free from the burden of poverty. Iris realizing she has a gift, nothing is going to hold her back from creating her own line of beautiful clothes and she can defiantly achieve this with John, Natasha and her family by her side.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Harlequin Australia, in exchange for an honest review, Mary-Anne O'Connor is an amazing and talented Australian Historical Fiction author, I was totally engrossed in her latest book, it made me laugh, cry and cheer. I really enjoyed reading about the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, how it created jobs, and the excitement around its grand opening and five big stars from me.

A vivid, romantic story of Sydney in the 1930s Depression - the heartbreak, the glamour, the dark underbelly, the struggle towards a better day - and one young woman's dream of designing her way from rags to riches.
1930: Seventeen-year-old Iris Mitchell dreams of designing clothes, but there's little spare cash for fashion in their shanty-town home. The gift of a single purple ribbon from would-be boyfriend John Tucker, however, creates an unexpected opportunity ... and when Iris's brother Jim joins the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction, the large, dirt-poor but loving Mitchell family can move to the city. Iris will be torn away from John, but he's Protestant and she's Catholic, taboo in their world, so perhaps it wasn't meant to be ...
1932: By day, Iris scrubs the floors at Caron's, an upmarket department store. By night, she designs and sews in her family's tiny, crowded house. Friendship with gorgeous, livewire Natasha, one of Caron's models, allows Iris to show her skills, but will her talent be acknowledged ... or exploited?
When John reappears, passions are reignited, and Iris must face not only their religious divide, but the apparent impossibility of having both marriage and a career. Meanwhile, the Mitchells must navigate life in a city riven by corruption, dirty politics and gambling. Will their faith, determination and deep family bond save them when tragedy and adversity strike? In 1930s Sydney, the stakes have never been higher ...
Carrington is a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, and is named after Lord Carrington, governor of New South Wales in 1887 when the area was proclaimed a municipality. The Great Depression hit Carrington with a vengeance. In 1933 Carrington had up to 58% of wage earners either unemployed or in part-time employ. A shanty town called "Texas" sprung up during the depression and provided shelter for many homeless and unemployed. It got the name Texas due to the fact that land used to be used for stables.
he Susso is an Australian slang term referring to "sustenance" (welfare) payments, especially during the Great Depression. "Susso" could also be used as a noun, for someone depending on such payments, often unsympathetically.By late 1929, the economic depression had hit all western countries.Though the downturn in the economy had a much greater effect on the lives of the poor, not even the very rich could ignore the situation, as evidence of the Depression could be found everywhere. It was seen in the dole queues, soup kitchens doling out staple, filling foods, such as bread and potatoes, and shanty towns that sprang up across the nation. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement.
There were also incidents of civil unrest, particularly in Australia's largest city, Sydney.Though Australian Communist and far right movements were active in the Depression, they remained largely on the periphery of Australian politics, failing to achieve the power shifts obtained in Europe, and the democratic political system of the young Australian Federation survived the strain of the period.
Australians took consolation from sporting achievements through the Depression, with cricketer Don Bradman and race horse Phar Lap achieving long-lasting fame.
During the Great Depression, different parts of Australian society experienced different hardships, challenges and opportunities. There was increased movement of many people to and from country areas in search of work. Many hundreds of thousands of Australians suddenly faced the humiliation of poverty and unemployment. This was still the era of traditional social family structure, where the man was expected to be the sole bread winner. Soup kitchens and charity groups made brave attempts to feed the many starving and destitute. The male suicide rate spiked in 1930 and it became clear that Australia had limits to the resources for dealing with the crisis. The depression's sudden and widespread unemployment hit the soldiers who had just returned from war the hardest as they were in their mid-thirties and still suffering the trauma of their wartime experiences. The limited jobs that did arise were viciously fought for. The job vacancies were advertised in the daily newspaper, which formed massive queues to search for any job available. This then caused the race to arrive first at the place of employment (the first person to turn up was usually hired.)

John Thomas Lang (21 December 1876 – 27 September 1975), usually referred to as J. T. Lang during his career and familiarly known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Big Fella", was an Australian politician who twice served as the 23rd Premier of New South Wales from 1925 to 1927 and again from 1930 to 1932. He was dismissed by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Philip Game, at the climax of the 1932 constitutional crisis and resoundingly lost the resulting election and subsequent elections as Leader of the Opposition. Although Lang's father had been born Presbyterian, he later became a Catholic like his wife, and the family "fitted into the normal low social stratum of the great majority of Sydney's Catholics". During his first term as Premier, Lang carried out many social programmes, including state pensions for widowed mothers with dependent children under fourteen, a universal and mandatory system of workers' compensation for death, illness and injury incurred on the job, funded by premiums levied on employers, the abolition of student fees in state-run high schools and improvements to various welfare schemes such as child endowment (which Lang's government had introduced). Various laws were introduced providing for improvements in the accommodation of rural workers, changes in the industrial arbitration system, and a 44-hour workweek. Extensions were made to the applicability of the Fair Rents Act while compulsory marketing along the lines of what existed in Queensland was introduced. In 1930, more than one in five adult males in New South Wales were without a job. Australian governments responded to the Depression with measures that, Lang claimed, made circumstances even worse - cuts to government spending, civil service salaries and public works cancellations. Lang vigorously opposed these measures and was elected in a landslide in October 1930.

As Premier, Lang refused to cut government salaries and spending, a stand which was popular with his constituents, but which made the state's fiscal position more parlous, though the economic state of the six other various Australian governments fared little better during this same period. In the wake of the Great Depression, measures were taken to ease the hardships of evicted tenants together with the hardships facing householders and other debtors battling to meet repayments.He passed laws restricting the rights of landlords to evict defaulting tenants, and insisted on paying the legal minimum wage to all workers on relief projects.

On 19 March 1932, Lang opened the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Lang caused some controversy when he insisted on officially opening the bridge himself, rather than allowing the Governor, the King's representative in NSW, to do so. He delivered what has come to be regarded as a landmark speech in Australian political history during the Opening, citing the theme that the completion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was analogous to the history, development and dreams of the Australian nation and its people. It may be inferred that this speech depicted Lang's personal vision of the past, present and future of New South Wales and Australia's place in the British Empire and world. Just as Lang was about to cut the ribbon to open the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Captain Francis de Groot, a member of the paramilitary New Guard movement, rode up and broke the ribbon. The New Guard also planned to kidnap Lang, and plotted a coup against him during the crisis that brought Lang's premiership to an end. The New Guard was a short-lived Australian fascist paramilitary organisation which emerged from the Sydney-based Old Guard in 1931, during the Great Depression. It was the largest and most successful fascist organisation in Australian history. The New Guard is known for its violent agitation against Premier of New South Wales Jack Lang. It was founded and led by Eric Campbell, a World War I veteran and former Old Guard member. The group's membership was predominantly Anglo-protestant, monarchist and anti-communist in nature.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a heritage-listed steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself. Nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design, the bridge carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Under the direction of John Bradfield of the New South Wales Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long of Middlesbrough (who based the design on their 1928 Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne) and opened in 1932. The bridge itself was regarded as a triumph over Depression times, earning the nickname "the Iron Lung", as it kept many Depression-era workers employed, unifying people in building a bridge to a better life.

The Great Depression and World War II bookended the 1930s, but fashion flourished anyway during this decade. Glamorous Hollywood screen stars inspired new looks for women, men, and even children. Inexpensive fabrics, affordable catalog clothing, and homespun ingenuity let anyone copy styles previously worn by the wealthy. At home or in public, women most commonly wore dresses with wide shoulders; puffy sleeves; modest necklines; higher, belted waistlines; and mid-calf flared hemlines. Frilly bows, ruffles, buttons, and other details often decorated dresses. Women often accessorized with inexpensive costume jewelry, gloves, silk scarves, and furs. Smaller hats were popular, such as berets, Greta Garbo-style slouch hats, or knit caps. Turbans topped fancier looks. Two-tone oxford shoes and strappy dress shoes with high, chunky heels were the shoes of choice. It was common to match accessories such as shoes, handbag, and hat.

Catholic–Protestant relations refers to the social, political and theological relations and dialogue between the Catholics and Protestants. This relationship began in the 16th century with the beginning of the reformation and thereby Protestantism. A number of factors contributed to the Protestant Reformation. Namely, disagreement on the nature of salvation and by extension a number of doctrines including the sale of indulgences and more. These disputes led to a schism whereby Protestants chose to split from the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the Council of Trent (1545–1563) which clarified the Catholic approach to Protestantism from then on. A series of significant events followed which divided Europe and culminated in a number of states transitioning from Catholicism to Protestantism as their state religion. However, many remained Catholic. Much of the schism and the events it caused can be categorised as violent and tumultuous. However, with the rise of secularism, Catholic-Protestant disputes are generally constrained to the intellectual sphere.

Razor gangs were notorious criminal gangs operating in and around Sydney throughout 1920s and 30s, all embroiled in various vices such as gambling and prostitution around areas such as Kings Cross. Sly grog and SP bookmaking remained to sustain the city’s professional criminals. The Depression threw hundreds of thousands out of work, reduced the incomes of nearly all Sydney residents and contributed, ironically, to a boom in illegal, off-track book-making. Unable to afford fares and entry fees at the racetracks, devoted working-class betters placed a twopenny or shilling wager with SP bookmakers over the telephone or at local hotels, encouraged perhaps by the hopeless economic conditions to trust a percentage of their financial future to fate. As SP bookmaking boomed during the 1930s, the standover merchants began collecting an informal tax on illegal off-track betting. Illegal off-course betting in the specific form known as SP is, however, a relatively modern industry which has adapted constantly during the past half century in response to new technology, consumer demand and government policy. As the enterprise grew and prospered in the 1930s, SP acquired some powerful and ironic allies, including the Labor Party, elements within the Catholic Church and important segments of the media. Controversies over the open operation of SP betting were among the major political battles in New South Wales’ politics during the 1930s, and the industry’s survival was due in large part to the popular support it won from working-class districts.
When the conservatives then proposed to wipe out other forms of gambling with the 1908 Police Offences Act, State Labor members protested. Arguing that gambling was a fundamental human instinct, Mr Burgess said: ‘There is a strong propensity in human nature to gamble in some form or another. I have a right to risk a shilling or two if I have it to spare, just as much as a man who goes down to the Stock Exchange and gambles in mining scrip. That is a form of gambling that is infinitely worse than gambling on a racecourse’. The SP business boomed during the 1930s. The rapid dissemination of radio sets and telephone connections created a communications infrastructure, and the Depression deprived many would-be betters of the means for a trip to the track. No longer restricted to the clientele who entered the betting shop, the SP bookmaker could contact everyone with access to a telephone, while the off-course better could follow the race live through radio broadcasts. The illegal off-course bookmaker required telephone services for information about the on-course prices, to ‘lay off’ or post covering bets with other bookmakers if over-committed. When the Depression sapped the average punter’s ability to pay a one shilling tram fare to the track, the SP operators could be found flourishing at the bar of almost every neighbourhood pub, positioned near the pay telephone. You have to be very good at mathematics, especially good at probability as well be able to have the relevant interpersonal and social skills to read people well.

Exceptionally well researched and with good use of historical facts to set the scene, Dressed By Iris takes readers from the 1930’s slums of Newcastle to Hurstville in Sydney, where living conditions are not much better, as it traces the story of Iris Mitchell’s rise to becoming a designer of women’s fashion in her own right. This is a character-driven story with the seemingly impossible romance between staunchly Catholic Iris and Protestant John Tucker. The story highlights so many issues including religious discrimination, sexual abuse, gambling, corruption and bribery, yet it still manages to be one in which I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat praying that Iris would overcome one challenge after another. I loved the intense connections within her family and the way each of them rallied to support the others when called for. I loved Iris’ friend Natasha with her glamorous model looks and her broad Australian accent and I loved Iris’ mother Agnes, who was the glue holding her family together through much of this gorgeous book, but truthfully I loved just about every character that graced its pages.

What a great book this one was. Its the first of Mary-Anne's that I have read but definitely won't be the last.

Such a true depiction of the era and the hardships that many Australians faced during the 1930's, from poverty to richness and one girl's dream to be a fashion designer.

Highly recommended for readers of Womens Fiction or Australian historical fiction.
Thanks go to Harlequin and Net Galley for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion

Initially set in Carrington, Newcastle, where the Mitchell family were as poor as church mice, living on what their mother Agnes could dredge up, from ham bones to make soup and cardboard inserts on their old, worn-out shoes. Then Jim, the eldest son, found work in Sydney, the new harbour bridge being his saviour. The family moved to Sydney and lived in a small cottage, while Bob, Agnes’ husband also found work on the bridge. For awhile things were better than they’d ever been.

When they’d lived in Carrington, seventeen-year-old Iris had fallen for John Tucker, and he her. But Iris was Catholic, John Protestant – their relationship was doomed before it started. Then John moved to Melbourne and Iris to Sydney – Iris’ heartache was real, but she was pragmatic; life must go on. Until the day of the Sydney Harbour Bridge opening, and Iris spotted John once again. But would anything come of their rekindled relationship?

Iris’ siblings, Jim, Tom, Helena, Rosie and Billy, made life at home hectic, but it was within the confines of the family life that dreams were made, and futures assessed. With Natasha, Iris’ workmate at Caron’s and John added to the family mix, they found laughter and heartache. But they also realized the corrupt politics of the day and the cruel manner of certain people, would have them keeping a close eye on going’s on. Would dreams come true?

An outstanding read, Dressed by Iris by Aussie author Mary-Anne O’Connor is full of the hardships of life when you’re poor, but it’s also lined with laughter and love, a family together, supporting one another, no matter what. I thoroughly enjoyed Billy and Rosie, and the duck! Loved Natasha’s down to earth character and Agnes’ anchoring of the whole family. The whole cast of characters are brilliantly done, making Dressed by Iris a read which I highly recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I could not read the book as the font was unreadable and I could not edit it. Therefore, I will give it 3 stars as a middle mark.

Another thoroughly enjoyable historical fiction from Mary-Anne O'Connor although I think her previous book Sisters of Freedom was better. What makes this one special is that some of the characters and their experiences are based on the authors family (specifically her grandmother and aunt). It begins in 1930, Iris Mitchell and her family are Irish Catholics first living in a shantytown in Newcastle, and later after her father and brother get jobs on the harbour bridge build, the family moves to Sydney. Iris gets a cleaning job at a fashion house, and because she’s an excellent seamstress herself, she has ambitions of being a designer. Throw in a Protestant love interest, and a brother who becomes a bookie against the backdrop of the depression, the politics of the time, antiCatholic prejudice and more, and it all adds up to a good read about a family surviving through hard times.

I really enjoyed this book, and I will look for more novels by Mary-Anne O'Connor.

Iris is a poor girl in Newcastle who comes from a warm Catholic family fallen on hard times. They eat 'bone soup', and wear 'cardboard shoes'. She is in love with a handsome Protestant, John Tucker, but it's the 1930s, and religion keeps them apart. The nasty Conlon's are also spreading rumours about their relationship.

When John wins a scholarship to university in Melbourne, and Iris's family move to Sydney, the star-crossed lovers agree to separate, but nothing can keep them apart...After John becomes a journalist, he meets Iris again, now set to become a dressmaker in a big store, but Robert Conlon is now a government minister, with evil designs.

Iris and John are lovely characters, struggling with their relationship against a backdrop of Depression and shady characters. The Depression era politics are well-researched, but I occasionally felt that I was receiving a historical lesson from one particular view. Some of my relatives lived through that era, so I also knew a little about their thoughts about the politics of the time, so it was interesting, but a bit too polemical for a historical novel.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

EDITION Mass Market Paperback
ISBN 9781867225447
PRICE A$29.99 (AUD)

Set in Newcastle and Sydney in the early 1930’s during the Great Depression.
Iris Mitchell is Catholic and lives with her large family in a makeshift dwelling in a shanty town near Newcastle. Iris loves to sew and has a flair for design.
The Mitchell family move to Sydney when Iris’s father and brother Jim start working on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Iris starts working as a cleaner and in her spare time she designs and makes dresses. Life is slightly better for Iris and her family, but times are hard, money is scarce and the family struggle to make a living.
This is a romance about friendships and fashion design.

To start with I must say that I struggled a little bit with this book, finding it far to long and a bit repetitive. For me it went on and on and I feel it would have been much better had it been a little bit shorter as at points I did loose interest.

Having said that I did love the story, the characters where well thought out and I love that it is a book that was inspired by Mary-Anne O'Connor's family. it did bring life to the story and i liked that the author told us a bit more about her family at the back of the book.

The Mitchell family struggled through the years of depression in NSW but there was always hope and family and through all the struggles the family stuck together and in the end everything works out (which you always knew it would.

A good book but it took me a while to finish it and I found some it it predictable, some of it boring but most of it was interesting.

What an incredibly powerful, insightful historical masterpiece! Dressed By Iris, in my opinion, is Mary-Anne O’Connor’s best yet. A story about hope and sacrifice. It kept me fixed on its pages with its heart-felt drama, well-defined characters, true-to-the era settings and unsettling social issues. A time when Phar Lap was on the race track (and died), when gambling was rampant, when political and law enforcement corruption proved active, when a woman once married was expected to give up her career to raise a family, when gold panning in Braidwood was still happening and when religious gaps and prejudices between Catholics and Protestants were wide spread and painfully real. But it was also a period of oncoming change and new starts. The bridge at Sydney Harbour was constructed so that both sides of the river were more accessible. When women like Iris pushed for independence and having it all (both marriage and a career). When exciting new fashions designed by women, not just men, took centre stage. Even how the styles were influenced by Hollywood movies and actresses. It was also a time when poverty to riches stories really happened for some. This novel covered so many things and so masterfully that I was moved by its profound depth and topics. It fleshed out an interesting period in time when struggles and obstacles were probably even greater than today.

One main theme abounds. The word ‘hope’ reappears over and over again like a resilient thread woven throughout the entire storyline. Agnes, a highly intuitive woman, the mother of the Mitchell clan, bolsters her family with ‘where there is hope there is happiness.’ Her strong belief has equipped her children and their friends with positive outlooks. Even in the face of death, loss, challenges, hardships, setbacks, fire, abuse, prejudice and poverty, the triumphant power of ‘hope’ buoys this amazing story from start to finish giving this family strength, resistance, determination and the will to never lose sight of their dreams. 'Dressed by Iris' is an amazing story of resilience!

This story is set during the Depression years in NSW—in this case between 1930 and 1932. Iris Mitchell lives with her family in a place called ‘Texas’: a shanty town in Newcastle where dwellings were mere shacks often built from corrugated iron and debris. The issues between Catholics and Protestants were very real in the 1930s. Socialisation, dating or marrying was frowned upon between the two. Yet here is the dilemma: Iris, a Catholic (a Mick) is smitten with a handsome, kind, funny man named John Tucker, a Protestant (a Proddo) but their relationship is forbidden. The undercurrent of division is carefully explored and we see the struggles imposed upon this young couple due to each being on the wrong side of religious tracks. As we watch their love and lives unfold, our hearts are pricked by the thorn of prejudice and senseless feuding. We want them to escape this damaging bondage.

John Tucker sees Iris as ‘resilient and wild, just like the flower she’d been named after’ with ‘an inner beauty,’ She stands up to cruelty…protects and nurtures her sister. But she is also a creative genius. The Mitchells have a chance to move to Sydney to a proper house when work on the Sydney Harbour bridge opens up but just before they go, Iris is given a sewing machine by Mrs Spencer who recognises her amazing talent for designing and making clothes. What will she do with this gift? For Iris, this unexpected treasure offers the opportunity to earn money and escape the poverty nightmare. Her journey next through this novel is unforgettable and uplifting, in spite of the obstacles she faces. When she moves to Sydney she acquires a cleaning job at Caron’s upmarket department store. There she meets and becomes close friends with a vibrant model named Natasha, who believes in her talent and helps her to move towards her goal.

This novel is well-researched and its authenticity is partly attributed to Mary-Anne’s family input (mentioned in the notes) making it a story obviously dear to her heart. This valuable resource provides ample inspiration for the author and fuels the characters’ voices with more authority as Mary-Anne weaves pieces of her family's experiences and impressions from the Depression into the story.

This amazing novel moved me on so many levels for it transported me back to the 1930s in a blink of an eye and allowed me to feel the characters’ dilemmas and victories. In fact, it carried me along so well, I felt I was watching a movie as the settings, characters and plot were so believable and well-delivered. Yes, the Depression history is familiar yet it is refreshingly original in the way it is told and played out. In short: this stunning novel excels in all areas to the point it exceeds the 5 star rating! I highly recommend this masterpiece for lovers of profound historical fiction.

Thanks to Harlequin Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book. I sincerely loved it.

This review will be posted on Amazon AU when the book is released and a month before on all social media sites (Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram) plus my website blog, Goodreads, LinkedIn, The Book Stack and other book clubs.