Like a timely teacher, the book you need will appear at the right time.
This time last year I attended the Fiona McIntosh Commercial Fiction Masterclass Conference in Adelaide where I bought a few books written by alumni. The lovely lady manning the conference book shop highly recommended Lauren Chater’s The Winter Dress.
The cover was sumptuous and the dual storyline involves a researcher and the 17th century owner of the eponymous dress. I love art themed stories especially those with historical and scientific references so I added it to my purchases.
When I got home, it went on the To Be Read pile. I have a huge TBR. Like most book lovers, I view buying books and reading books as two different hobbies. I am a keen Tsundoku practitioner, Buying More Books Than I Can Read.
No shame. No regrets.
Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, said It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticise those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read.
Books are my favourite souvenir and my favourite way to pass the time.
I kind of forgot about The Winter Dress until I was selecting a read for this overseas trip. I needed an unsigned book so I wouldn’t feel sad about giving it away when I finished reading it. Chater’s book was sitting right there at the top of my teetering TBR pile.
I was halfway to Sydney when I started reading and saw it begins in that city. But quickly the action moved to the Netherlands, where I would be when I finished reading it.
What a lovely coincidence.
The book had me riveted. Highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction, history, travel and art stories. There’s intrigue, a double cross, love and loss and a hint of romance in both timelines. Oh and the resolution is both surprising and inevitable, as Aristotle suggested.
