Kate Winslet as the title character in the film adaptation of ‘The Dressmaker’. Image: Supplied
‘The Dressmaker’ author Rosalie Ham on her long-awaited sequel
The Australian author talks about her latest novel, her writing process and where she found her inspiration for the two books.
Kate Winslet as the title character in the film adaptation of ‘The Dressmaker’. Image: Supplied
Rosalie Ham’s international best-selling novel The Dressmaker was adapted into a feature film starring Kate Winslet and Liam Hemsworth.
Now that Ham’s keenly awaited follow-up, published by Pan Macmillan Australia, is out, the writer chatted to The South African about The Dressmaker’s Secret and how she handled life as a writer under the lockdown.
‘The Dressmaker’s Secret’ a story of revenge and triumph
For 21 years, the world has been waiting to hear what happened to the incredible band of characters sketched into life by Ham in The Dressmaker. As she travelled Australia promoting her novel, Ham remembers the many questions from readers about what had become of the characters.
The sequel is finally written and the world can now delve back into the world of Tilly Dunnage. Ham confirmed what fans of The Dressmaker have been wanting to hear for more than two decades: “Tilly does well,” having “finally faced her past and reached her conclusion”.
Ham described the book as a success story and a “triumph” for the characters that has been a long time coming.
‘The Dressmaker’s Secret’: Synopsis
It is 1953 and Melbourne society is looking forward to coronation season, grand balls and celebrations for the young queen-to-be. Tilly Dunnage is, however, working for a pittance in a second-rate Collins Street salon.
Her talents go unappreciated, and the madame is a bully and a cheat, but Tilly has a past she is desperate to escape — good reason to prefer anonymity.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Farrat and the McSwiney clan have been searching for their resident dressmaker ever since she left Dungatar in flames. And they aren’t the only ones. The inhabitants of the town are still out for revenge, so when Tilly’s name starts to feature in the fashion pages, the jig is up.
Rosalie Ham: ‘I don’t like to write a normal novel’
When asked how her writing style had changed in the years following the release of her first novel, Ham said her writing had improved with experience and time.
Some things in her writing process have not changed, however:
“What will never change, is that particular view of the world that you get through small-town communities — you feel each other’s pain.”
About the inspiration behind her incredibly life-like and colourful characters, Ham said:
“I was born and raised in a small town and the population was 800 people. So, I knew everyone and everything, and it wasn’t until I left that I realised that half of them were nuts!”
Small-town life at heart of ‘The Dressmaker’
Ham said the eclectic characters and their defining idiosyncrasies of small-town life helped her construct the unforgettable characters in The Dressmaker.
Her work is deeply characterised by small-town living, something she experienced herself. She describes there being “two truths in a small community – the one that people say is true and the one that is reality”.
Where Rosalie Ham finds her inspiration
Ham said for her inspiration always began with a trip to her family farm and “doing nothing”. It was then, she said, that “everything that you have absorbed lines up” and she could begin writing.
She also named fashion as an inspiration for her work and said this stemmed from watching old Hollywood movies as a little girl. She was fascinated by how these glamourous actresses were transformed though fashion.
Drawing on childhood memories for ‘The Dressmaker’ and sequel
Growing up, Ham’s mother was the town seamstress, who had the magical power of being able to transform people through what they wore.
“I used to watch my mother, and the thing with being a seamstress was you were either good at it or you weren’t. My mum was able to somehow take a piece of fabric and read the fabric.”
Ham returned to her childhood experience of watching her mother create garments in a small town to find inspiration for her work. She has taken the past and moulded it into a novel rich with history and haute couture.
Ham on being a writer in the lockdown
When asked about why she chose to write the sequel when she did, more that 20 years after the first book was published, Ham said she finally had the time available.
About the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic she said: “I was in the last stages of doing the final edits [of The Dressmaker’s Secret] and I couldn’t go anywhere, and I couldn’t do anything, so I could be excruciatingly focussed”.
The literary and reading world alike is grateful for one good thing the pandemic has brought us: Rosalie Ham having the time to write the long-awaited sequel to The Dressmaker.
More about Rosalie Ham
Ham was born and raised in Australia in the small town of Jerilderie.
After completing her Bachelor of Education, majoring in Drama and Literature, she began writing stage and radio plays. Ham would later go on to complete her Masters in Arts.
She accidentally discovered her love of novel writing after taking part in a novel-writing course. The Dressmaker was published in 2000.
Ham’s other novels include Summer at Mount Hope, There Should be More Dancing, The Year of the Farmer, and now, the long-awaited sequel to The Dressmaker, The Dressmaker’s Secret.
When not writing, Ham teaches literature and writing at Trinity College at the University of Melbourne as well as at RMIT University.
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