Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Midnight Dress

The Midnight Dress
The Midnight Dress
Author: Karen Foxlee
Genre: Teen & Young Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
reviewed on + 380 more book reviews


Summary:
The story is happens in three layers. The present time deals with the murder mystery of a young girl. Then, there are two aspects of flashbacks. The first is about Rose, a girl that doesn't allow herself to settle into one places because her father likes to move around. However, Rose finds herself liking this little town of Leonora and building a friendship with Pearl, a popular local girl that is planning the annual Harvest Festival. As the two girls grow in friendship, Pearl convinces Rose to go to an old seamstress that the town has deemed a witch. This brings about the third layer. Edie Baker, the witch, teaches Rose how to sew and create a beautiful dress for the Harvest Festival. While this sewing relationship continues, the reader learns about Edie Baker's history.

My thoughts:
This is a beautifully written novel. The world building is amazing. The little town of Leonora is shown with vivid colors, every plant and animal is described with prose that seems like poetry. The lyrical flow of Fowlee's writing really brings everything to life for me. I was impressed with her word choice and the literary elements that just hop off the page. It's definitely a book that I would enjoy teaching and pointing out how the author wrote things rather than just what the author's written. I liked how the book flowed between past and present easily. I was never confused about what time period I was in. This is another testament to the writer because of the different layers of time. I moved through them without a pause to figure out if I was dealing with the past or the present. I loved the development of Rose and Pearl's friendship. Since Rose has a hard time making friends, it was almost as if we were seeing her blossom, but also struggle with what is the right thing to do. Overall, I just loved how built up everything was. Foxlee has developed the characters and the setting to the point where I feel like I can step right into the world as if I have known it for years.