Molly (Rosalie Ham, Macmillan)

Molly is a riveting prequel to The Dressmaker from much-loved Australian author Rosalie Ham, and can be enjoyed as a standalone novel. Set in the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne in 1914, the book introduces Molly Dunnage, who is in her mid-20s and lives with her father, August, and his spinster sister, April. Molly’s best—and only—friend, Gladys, who arrived from the Mallee as an eight-year-old orphan, lives next door. Upon leaving school, Molly gets a job making corsets, and Gladys finds work in a factory. The girls endure terrible working conditions and join Aunt April and her friend in supporting the suffragette campaigns. Ham’s writing creates colourful imagery of Molly’s relationships, including familiar characters from later books—Horatio Farrat and Evan Pettyman—while transporting the reader back in time and providing a glimpse into the poor living and working conditions many faced. For lovers of historical fiction such as Averil Kenny’s Those Hamilton Sisters, Molly will introduce new readers to Ham’s The Dressmaker and The Dressmaker’s Secret, while enticing original fans back. Molly is where it all starts, and as history repeats itself through generations, Ham suggests that occupations, love and trauma seem to follow some people. It’s hard not to fall in love with the delightful, strong-willed Molly, as she learns to navigate friendship, small-minded gossip, betrayal, true love, heartbreak and loss.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Vanessa Pengelly is operations director at Books+Publishing. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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