Emily Paull

This review was originally published by The AU Review on April 22, 2022. Shipwrecks, court fashions and the Dutch art trade of the 17th Century take centre stage in   Lauren Chater’s   third historical novel,  The Winter Dress . Chater was inspired by a shipwreck discovered in 2014 off the island of Texel, containing a dress perfectly preserved underwater for four hundred years. The dress was later found to have belonged to Jean Kerr, Countess of Roxburghe, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria. In the fictional counterpart to this history, the dress belongs to Anna Tesseltje, who began her life as a merchant’s daughter, but was forced to become a laundress after his death. By chance, Anna is elevated to the position of lady’s companion to Catharina van Shurman, a celebrated artist and advocate for women’s education. Anna and Catharina were said to be close, but the discovery of Anna’s dress on a boat belonging to the Dutch East India Company indicates that the pai...

This review was originally published on The AU Review on April 21, 2022. If you thought it was too soon for a pandemic novel, you might just be put off by the premise of   Toni Jordan’s   newest book,   Dinner with the Schnabels … don’t be! Known for her versatility across both the contemporary and historical genres, the Melbourne-based novelist has just published her first novel with Hachette. Schnabels  follows down-on-his-luck former-architect Simon Larsen, who has been forced to make a few changes to his life post-lockdown. After losing his firm, and then his house, Simon has found himself in something of a rut. To make matters worse, his wife’s family seem to be watching his every move – in particular, his mother in law, who has never expected much of Simon in the first place. In fact, Simon wouldn’t blame his wife, Tansy, if she decided to leave him. The novel takes place over the space of one week and is structured around Simon’s attempts to finish a lan...