The Midnight Dress

Description

A girl is missing. A small town is alive with rumours. When Rose Lovell and her father arrive in a north Queensland sugarcane town, she knows how it will go: her father will dry out for a while, then binge at the pun one night. The next morning he'll start packaging. By lunchtime they'll be gone. At the local high school, Rose meets beautiful Pearl Kelly, whose kindness slowly melts Rose's defences. When Pearl convinces Rose to take part in the annual Harvest Parade, Rose must find a special dress for the occasion. Something draws her to the old dressmaker's house at the foot of the mountain, and the moment she enters Edie Baker's rundown kitchen, she senses something magical. Over the weeks, Edie apprentices Rose in the fine art of dressmaking, using discarded things form her shadowy back rooms. And while they sew together, Edie tells Rose the story of her parents' love and the dark mysteries of the mountain. As the night of the Harvest Parade approached, Rose knows that one day she will climb these to see the place for herself...

Karen Foxlee is the author of The Anatomy of Wings.