The Midnight Dress

This review originally appeared at
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Rose Lovell is used to moving around a lot. Her life with her father has followed a fairly similar pattern over the years: they will arrive and for a while her father will stay off the drink; until one day he won’t, and then they will pack up and move and start the whole process again. Rose has learnt not to become comfortable. She has learnt not to become attached to people or places, so as to avoid constant disappointment. But this time, in a small north Queensland sugarcane town aptly named Paradise, things are different.

Rose’s father isn’t drinking. Working as a banana picker, it seems Mr Lovell has found an admirer in the woman who manages the caravan park the Lovell’s are living in. Rose too is acting differently. Despite her best efforts to be guarded and cold, her classmate Pearl Kelly has worn down Rose’s barriers and the two girls have grown close–and yet Rose always keeps Pearl at a certain distance. Pearl and her friends convince Rose to take part in the town’s annual Harvest Parade– but Rose’s father can not afford the extravagance of her classmates’ dresses, so she forms an unlikely friendship with Edie Baker, a local seamstress. As Edie teaches Rose the fine art of dressmaking, she tells Rose the story of her family and their association with the hidden cabin on the mountain. Though hesitant at first, Rose gets swept up in the magic and the romance of the mountain. But infatuation and obsession can be dangerous–one of the girls will not live to see the sun rise after the Harvest Parade.

The way this book is written makes it virtually impossible to put down. Foxlee uses two alternating narratives and moves between the current investigation into the disappearance of the girl in the midnight dress, and the events that occurred in the lead up to the Harvest Parade. This foreshadowing effect is genius–before the reader meets Rose, Pearl, and the other characters, they are immediately informed that one of the local girls is missing. Foxlee knows just how much to give readers before switching to the past events, and I found myself desperate to keep reading and find out what had happened. But this isn’t your usual mystery/thriller novel. Foxlee’s prose is lyrical and beautiful and her talents as a gifted storyteller are on full display here.

This story is about more than a missing girl in a beautiful dress. It’s about broken people and shattered families. It’s about love and the many different forms it can take. It’s about growing up and dealing with the consequences of your actions. It’s an exquisitely written coming of age story about dealing with the disappointment of reality and finding the courage and strength to keep moving forward. It’s a wonderful tale from a fantastic Australian author and it really should not be missed. ( )

Will you forgive me if I tell you the ending?

The Midnight Dress begins with a girl waiting anxiously in the darkness, the sounds of the town celebrating echoing in the distance, wondering what she will say when he comes for her. This is the girl that will disappear, the girl wearing the midnight dress.

The narrative shifts between the present, as a Detective searches for the missing girl, and the past as present as the midnight dress comes to be. Rose arrives in the small northern Queensland town of Paradise with her alcoholic father, is befriended by Pearl despite her reluctance and with the Harvest Parade celebration imminent agrees to work with the eccentric Edie Baker to create a dress for the occasion. A midnight dress of deep navy blue, mourning lace and glass beads, hand sewn by Rose while she listens to the stories Edie has to share.

I saw The Midnight Dress labeled as 'rural Australian gothic' (I am not really sure where - sorry about that) and thought it the perfect description. It has many of the elements associated with the genre - a wild, isolated landscape, a crumbling house, an illicit love affair, a lurking sense of something 'other'.

The suspense is finely crafted, despite the intertwining narrative that foreshadows the grief and loss. There is a haunted quality that reminds me of The Picnic at Hanging Rock, it has that sense of an inexorable slide towards tragedy, of menace waiting to take advantage of innocence.

The Midnight Dress is beautifully written with a lyrical rhythm and evocative language. I felt as though I could step inside Edie Baker's house, crowded with decaying junk, mildewed fabric and lost dreams. Gaze upon the looming mountain covered with dense forest, a waterfall burbling in the distance as the sweat of tropical humidity trickles uncomfortably down my spine. Spy on Pearl's flirtation with Paul amongst the tiny, musty rooms of the book exchange.

Despite the teenage protagonist I would say this novel exceeds the boundaries of young adult fiction, it is more than a coming of age tale even as it delves into the angst of adolescence. The Midnight Dress is compelling, a story of loss, of yearning and dark enchantment and leaves me eager to read more from Karen Foxlee. ( )