
The Dressmakers of London
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Narrated by:
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Shiromi Arserio
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By:
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Julia Kelly
About this listen
The author of the “enthralling” (Woman’s World) The Lost English Girl returns with a heartfelt new novel about estranged sisters who inherit their late mother’s dress shop in World War II London.
Isabelle Shelton has always found comfort in the predictable world of her mother’s dressmaking shop, Mrs. Shelton’s Fashions, while her sister Sylvia turned her back on the family years ago to marry a wealthy doctor whom Izzie detests. When their mother dies unexpectedly, the sisters are stunned to find they’ve jointly inherited the family business. Izzie is determined to buy Sylvia out, but when she’s conscripted into the WAAF, she’s forced to seek Sylvia’s help to keep the shop open. Realizing this could be her one chance at reconciliation with her sister, Sylvia is determined to save Mrs. Shelton’s Fashions from closure—and financial ruin.
Through letters, the sisters begin to confront old wounds, new loves, and the weight of family legacy in order to forge new beginnings in this lyrically moving novel perfect for fans of Genevieve Graham and Lucinda Riley.
©2025 Julia Kelly (P)2025 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
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Lovely and slow but warning 1 narrator is horrible
- By E. Read on 06-30-21
By: Julia Kelly
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Come Fly with Me
- A Novel
- By: Camille Di Maio
- Narrated by: Carly Robins, Dominique Salvacion, Sherri Slater
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Judy Goodman and Beverly Caldwell have different reasons for putting continents and oceans between themselves and their disparate pasts, but they have the same desire—to earn a coveted position on an elite team of stewardesses for Pan American Airlines. For Judy, running away from an oppressive marriage in small-town Pennsylvania is a risk she must take. And for Beverly, leaving behind the gilded cage of New York society will allow her to pursue a future of her own making.
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Time Capsule
- By Stacey on 05-10-25
By: Camille Di Maio
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A Dark and Deadly Journey
- Evelyne Redfern, Book 3
- By: Julia Kelly
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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After being sidelined for a pesky gunshot wound, typist-turned-field agent Evelyne Redfern is ready for her next assignment with Britain’s secretive Special Investigations Unit. When a British Intelligence informant in Portugal mysteriously disappears just after hinting that he has vital information about German plans that could tip the balance of World War Two, Evelyne and her dashingly irksome partner, David Poole, are sent headed to Lisbon to find him.
By: Julia Kelly
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Miss Jane
- A Novel
- By: Brad Watson
- Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on the story of his own great-aunt, Watson explores the life of Miss Jane Chisolm, born in rural, early-20th-century Mississippi with a genital birth defect that would stand in the way of the central "uses" for a woman in that time and place: sex and marriage. From the highly erotic world of nature around her to the hard tactile labor of farm life, from the country doctor who befriends her to the boy who loved but was forced to leave her, Miss Jane Chisolm and her world are anything but barren.
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A Love Bird, Simply Superb
- By W Perry Hall on 10-23-16
By: Brad Watson
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The Dressmaker
- A Novel
- By: Kate Alcott
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she's had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic's doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes. Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy.
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Good story, awful narrator
- By Victoria on 02-24-12
By: Kate Alcott
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The Dress in the Window
- A Novel
- By: Sofia Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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World War II has ended, and American women are shedding their old clothes for the gorgeous new styles. Voluminous layers of taffeta and tulle, wasp waists, and beautiful color - all so welcome after years of sensible styles and strict rationing. Jeanne Brink and her sister, Peggy, both had to weather every tragedy the war had to offer - Peggy now a widowed mother, Jeanne without the fiancé she'd counted on, both living with Peggy's mother-in-law in a grim mill town.
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Absolutely recommend it to anyone into sewing
- By Lomeraniel on 10-21-17
By: Sofia Grant
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The Secret History of Audrey James
- A Novel
- By: Heather Marshall
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Northern England, 2010. After a tragic accident upends her life, Kate Mercer leaves London to work at an old guest house near the Scottish border, where she hopes to find a fresh start and heal from her loss. When she arrives, she begins to unravel the truth about her past, but discovers that the mysterious elderly proprietor is harboring secrets of her own.
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Outstanding
- By Linda S Moore on 03-11-25
By: Heather Marshall
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The Lost Passenger
- A Novel
- By: Frances Quinn
- Narrated by: Heather Long
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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An immersive historical drama about a young mother who starts a new life with her son in New York after faking their deaths on the Titanic—the U.S. debut of acclaimed British novelist Frances Quinn.
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Character growth, triggers, qnd story
- By Cassandra McDonald on 03-12-25
By: Frances Quinn
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The Lost Dresses of Italy
- By: M. A. McLaughlin
- Narrated by: Hope Newhouse, Melanie Crawley, Edoardo Camponeschi
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Verona, 1947. Textile historian Marianne Baxter comes to post-war Italy with one thing on her mind: three pristine Victorian dresses once owned by the famous poet Christina Rossetti. Hidden away in a trunk for nearly a century, they were recently discovered at the Fondazione Museo Menigatti and Marianne’s expertise is needed before they go on exhibit. Still grieving the loss of her husband, the trip is also a reason for Marianne to start over.
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Boring
- By Patpro on 03-05-25
By: M. A. McLaughlin
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The Secret Photograph
- By: Siobhan Curham
- Narrated by: Amelia Sciandra
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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With a fake name written on the papers in her pocket, American photographer Clarisse Alarie knows the dangers of Paris better than most. Haunted by the sight of children being dragged away and carrying a photograph of the brown-eyed little girl everywhere she goes, Clarisse is desperate to make a difference. Soon, Clarisse is risking her life every day. Taking photographs of the terror that has overcome the beautiful city, Clarisse follows members of the Gestapo and hides in plain sight in order to gather evidence of their terrible crimes.
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Excellent!!
- By Michelle A Ralston on 04-05-25
By: Siobhan Curham
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The Memory Dress
- By: Jade Beer
- Narrated by: Annabelle Dowler, Gordon Griffin, Heather Long
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Jayne is quiet. She keeps to herself and has no grand expectations for her days. But after a chance encounter with her elderly neighbor, Meredith, Jayne is forced to reevaluate her determination to keep the world at a distance. Meredith's dust-covered home is chaotic and neglected. And slowly, Jayne starts to grasp that Meredith herself is quite lost. She can't seem to remember anything: what she last ate, when she last went out or saw her daughter, or even Jayne's name, despite what are becoming frequent visits.
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This book was absolutely beautiful.
- By Angela on 03-30-25
By: Jade Beer
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The Pianist's Wife
- By: Soraya M. Lane
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Berlin, 1944: Amira and Gisele have been best friends since they were children, and now Gisele is the only person who knows Amira’s secret. A secret that puts her and everyone she loves in unimaginable danger amid the daily horror and violence of Nazi Germany. With the threat of exposure drawing closer, Gisele’s suggestion that Amira marries her friend Fred, a famous pianist, might just be the lifeline she needs to keep them both safe. Because Fred has secrets too.
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Love, friendship and more
- By Sherron on 02-12-25
By: Soraya M. Lane
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The Dressmakers of Auschwitz
- The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive
- By: Lucy Adlington
- Narrated by: Lucy Adlington
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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At the height of the Holocaust, 25 young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp - mainly Jewish women and girls - were selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers. This fashion workshop - called the Upper Tailoring Studio - was established by Hedwig Höss, the camp commandant’s wife, and patronized by the wives of SS guards and officers.
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Not what I expected given description and preview
- By Kaeli Mathes on 09-24-21
By: Lucy Adlington
The sewing is correct
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Excellent WW2 historical fiction!
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When the girls’ mother dies and leaves the shop to both girls the sparks fly. Izzy is resentful of her sister and furious with her mother for leaving half the shop to Sylvie. Sylvie is dealing with the realization her husband is having an affair. She doesn’t want anything to do with the shop and offers to hand over her half to Izzy. Then Izzy is called up and she asks Sylvie to try to keep the shop open in her absence.
Sylvie throws herself into the business, hiding it from Horrible Hugo as Izzy calls Sylvie’s husband. Izzy is resentful that Sylvie is attempting to change the business after learning her mother has left the records in a shambles.
Much of the story consists of letters back and forth. Izzy is cold and carries years of resentment. Nothing Sylvie does although successful is acceptable to Izzy.
As the story continues both women learn something do it themselves that they would have missed if not for the strange bequest from their mother. There is also a lot of information on how British men and women dealt with the shortages. The clear class structure and Sylvie’s realization that the upper class would never accept her is thankfully a relic. There is a bit of romance and some long kept secrets that surface. Both women learn that people aren’t always what you think they are.
Other than slow start and my own frustration with Izzy’s unforgiving nature that got tiresome, it’s an excellent book and the narrator is first class
Slow Start But Worth Finishing
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Buckle up for a great story!
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Sisters and a motgers will...
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Excellent
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