The Dressmaker

A NOVEL

In this romantic novel, a provincial French dressmaker falls head over heels in love—with a woman who has hired him to create her wedding gown…

Claude Reynaud is an old-fashioned tailor, designing his famous gowns by hand in a cluttered studio well outside Paris. But one spring afternoon a woman arrives in search of a wedding dress and shatters all his composure: Valentine de Verlay is charming, beautiful, sophisticated, and, of course, engaged. Though he has long since given up on romance in favor of his work, Claude is instantly smitten.

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About The Dressmaker, Continued

As Valentine's wedding approaches, Claude finds it impossible to keep a safe distance, and everything he's come to rely on in his small, focused life looks ready to collapse. Worse still, it appears that Valentine may share his feelings.

The Dressmaker is a perfect gem of a novel, an enchanting portrait of another world, and, above all, a sly and irresistible love story.

  • "These two characters are drawn with great color, reflecting the stylish and variegated world of Parisian fashions and providing a textured backdrop for this subtle and well-crafted story."

    Library Journal

  • "[Birkelund]....injects an unexpected twist into the French fashion scene in her debut novel. ...as light and frothy as one of Claude's chiffon creations, yet it is also an engaging dissection of high fashion and those who determine its whimsical direction."

    Deborah Donovan for Booklist

  • "[Birkelund] cleverly portrays Claude's entrée into high fashion.... Successfully creates the intrigue one wants for a wedding gown designer who falls in love with his client."

    Publishers Weekly

  • "One creates a relationship as carefully as one creates a wedding dress. The Dressmaker doesn't drop a stitch."

    Rita Mae Brown

  • "What a pleasure to watch Elizabeth Birkelund conjure up the world of French haute couture with effortless and playful ease and with the same ease spin her giddy plot. But what makes The Dressmaker so utterly irresistible is her hero, the ardent and pure hearted Claude. From first to last The Dressmaker is a delight."

    Margot Livesey, author of Banishing Verona

  • "We've read so much serious and interesting writing about food in fiction, and so little about the esthetic pleasures of couture, that Elizabeth Birkelund's novel shimmers with invention. Her imagination is amazingly tactile, visual and sensuous, a rare pleasure, her storytelling is moving and sure, and her characters as real as a morning espresso. The Dressmaker is a wonderful debut."

    Beth Gutcheon

About the Author

Photo: Sigrid Estrada

Elizabeth Birkelund has life-long experience of France and the French.

The author attended the Sorbonne, has lived in Paris and Provence, and has visited most areas of France. Early in her career, she worked in editorial at European Travel & Life Magazine.

“Paris cooed to him, gently cradling and rocking him back to her sweet rhythms. The sweet familiar tonic of the city soothed his sense of emptiness.”

The Dressmaker