The Dressmaker's Gift

By: Fiona Valpy

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik, Justine Eyre

A Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts best seller.

From the best-selling author of The Beekeeper’s Promise comes a gripping story of three young women faced with impossible choices. How will history - and their families - judge them?

Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets. War-scarred Mireille is fighting with the Resistance; Claire has been seduced by a German officer; and Vivienne’s involvement is something she can’t reveal to either of them.

Two generations later, Claire’s English granddaughter Harriet arrives in Paris, rootless and adrift, desperate to find a connection with her past. Living and working in the same building on the Rue Cardinale, she learns the truth about her grandmother - and herself - and unravels a family history that is darker and more painful than she ever imagined.

In wartime, the three seamstresses face impossible choices when their secret activities put them in grave danger. Brought together by loyalty, threatened by betrayal, can they survive history’s darkest era without being torn apart?

©2019 Fiona Valpy (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Enjoyable audio

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The narration brought the excellent story to life. Highly recommend you read the book along with the Audible

Loved this book!

A historical fiction, the author weaves together a story of dedication and courage that made up the French Resistance to the World War II invasion of Paris. May we all be inspired to stand against totalitarianism and injustice to humanity!

A Really Good Read / Listen

The Dressmaker Gift is the story of 3 women specifically during WWII and the French resistance. It tells the tale of their lives interwoven with the story of one of the women's granddaughter and her quest to find her roots in France. I found this story very interesting and well read. I had a little trouble a couple of times understanding the narrator but it did not take away from the story at all. The Dressmakers gift is a well researched book and tells of a world unknown to most of us. I highly recommend this book.

Beautiful and painfully truthful

I enjoyed how the story unfolded and cried as the friends endured hardship unthinkable. I recommend it highly.

My new FAV book!

I’m a HUGE fan of amazing literary accomplishments that weave WWII history into every piece of the fictional story that is being told (books like The Nightingale for example). That being said, this book does an AMAZING job at just that! The author did tons of research to accurately depict life in Paris circa early 1940’s, and I hung onto every word!

I know we’re all a bit tired of the 2 separate stories from present day to past, but this book does an amazing job to connect them for multiple, deep, and inspiring reasons—I actually looked forward to each part of the story to develop in both decades!

The narration of the present day character, Harriett, was perfectly executed, but the narration of the past was just okay. She sometimes had awkwardly long pauses and spoke super slow on other parts, but it didn’t ruin the story for me, and it was only here or there. That was the only fault I could find in this audible book.

My advice: READ IT. You will not be disappointed! It’s beautiful!

Comments from a reader

What an amazing novel about self-discovery and overcoming trauma. The main character's triumph over tragedy is uplifting. I highly recommend this book.

Intriguing and heartbreaking yet hopeful.

Tragic and uplifting story about WWII from a viewpoint that I have never considered. My wife and I enjoyed the story but struggled at times with what seemed to be a speech impediment of the narrator for the war years. And most of the time the narrator for present-day seemed to end every sentence as a question which was a little tiresome. However, it was overall a wonderful story and the narrators seemed to capture the emotion of the times.

Literal Getaway

Loved my trip to NYC and France. Books are supposed to be engaging and this was just that grand.

Excellent Audio

I've read and heard a lot of WWII on the terrible things the Germans did to the News and others. I never really heard much about what the did to the French people. This audio goes from 2 parts today and in 1940's during the war. At first it was a little hard to really get into it going back and forth. I ended up getting used to plot and enjoyed ever part. The narrator was excellent also. I would definitely recommend this audio to others.

Well worth the read.

I rarely give a book 5 stars but this one is exceptional. The story is important, well told, and captivating.