In Sunderland, England, a city quarantined by the cholera epidemic of 1831, a defiant, fifteen-year old beauty in an elegant blue dress makes her w...
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reviews
Oct 21, 2007
Katie
rated it: 
I read the first half of this book in a tremendous rush, totally engrossed by the story and both horrified and fascinated by Holman's depiction of the cholera epidemic of 1831. I'm not sure exactly what happened in the second half of the book, but somehow the spell was broken. Holman (inconsistently) employs a fair amount of narrative trickery that didn't seem to add much to the book, and the lack of subtlety became frustrating after a while. I've recently read several books set in the drawing r
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Jul 08, 2009
Anika
rated it: 
So far I love the unique voice this book is told in. VERY original narration! What fun!
I finished this book today. I loved it. It does remind me of Dickens and his dark view of society. The cholera epidemic makes for a bit of a downer! I wish I could study this book with a class. I know there are a ton of metaphors and great comparisons within the story that would be fun to delve deeper into with a group. If it weren't for the prostitution story line I would think it would b More...
I finished this book today. I loved it. It does remind me of Dickens and his dark view of society. The cholera epidemic makes for a bit of a downer! I wish I could study this book with a class. I know there are a ton of metaphors and great comparisons within the story that would be fun to delve deeper into with a group. If it weren't for the prostitution story line I would think it would b More...
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Feb 09, 2012
Karo
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I've recently embarked on a historical novel kick -- a satisfying read with the added bonus of learning a little chunk of history, what could be better? I came across Sheri Holman's novel on the "paperback favorites" table when I was browsing in a local bookstore. It looked intriguing, so I thought that I'd give it a try. The book is about a 19th century cholera epidemic in an English town, and features Gustine, a poor girl with a very ill child who works as a potter's assistant by day
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Sep 23, 2011
Bev
rated it: 
Once upon a time, (I don't remember what prompted me to do so...a review I read somewhere, a synopsis of the book, perhaps both of these or neither) I put The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman on my TBR wish list. And there it sat until I came across a nice, gently used copy at my local library's used book shop. I promptly brought it home and put it on the physical TBR pile(s) gracing my back bedroom. Then, this week I found myself at loose ends. I've finished all my formal book challenges for 2010.
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Feb 15, 2011
Holly
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The Body Trade
Reviewed by Frederick Zackel
I love Gustine. She is already one of my favorite characters in popular fiction. An underfed, 15-year-old illiterate street urchin and the mother of a 4-month-old infant, Gustine has spent her last two years in Sunderland, England, as a "dress lodger" -- a prostitute who rents a beautiful dress to attract a better class of clientele. I love her because she is all heart.
The narrator of Sheri Holman's new More...
Reviewed by Frederick Zackel
I love Gustine. She is already one of my favorite characters in popular fiction. An underfed, 15-year-old illiterate street urchin and the mother of a 4-month-old infant, Gustine has spent her last two years in Sunderland, England, as a "dress lodger" -- a prostitute who rents a beautiful dress to attract a better class of clientele. I love her because she is all heart.
The narrator of Sheri Holman's new More...
Feb 26, 2010
David
rated it:
Turn the pages of The Dress Lodger and you’re turning the dial on a time machine. Destination: England, 1831.
Sheri Holman’s novel is one of those rare pieces of historical fiction which thrust you so completely into another time, another place, that the modern world—with all its bright, sparkly conveniences—melts away. Welcome to the Industrial Revolution, dear reader. You’ll feel the mud, you’ll smell the rotting wharf life, you’ll taste the bitter cholera on your tongue. You’ll More...
Sheri Holman’s novel is one of those rare pieces of historical fiction which thrust you so completely into another time, another place, that the modern world—with all its bright, sparkly conveniences—melts away. Welcome to the Industrial Revolution, dear reader. You’ll feel the mud, you’ll smell the rotting wharf life, you’ll taste the bitter cholera on your tongue. You’ll More...
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Nov 20, 2009
Amanda
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A poised, accomplished, and frequently touching historical novel about a poor part-time prostitute and potters' drudge who crosses paths with a high-minded body-snatching doctor while she's trying to eke out a precarious living in the north of England during a cholera epidemic. Full of quasi-Dickensian lowlifes with strange physical deformities, and practically reeking with atmosphere. The author, who has read widely in Victorian literature, both fiction and nonfiction, has an authoritative gra
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Mar 30, 2011
Suzi
rated it:
Sheri Holman's The Dress Lodger tells a story of desperation, hope, and superstition. Gustine is a dress lodger -- a prostitute who rents an expensive dress from her landlord in order to claim a higher price. She is followed by The Eye, a one-eyed old woman, in order to prevent Gustine from running away with the dress. She also has an infant son with a rare heart defect in need of medical attention.
Henry Chiver is a doctor and anatomy professor in desperate need of donor cadavers More...
Henry Chiver is a doctor and anatomy professor in desperate need of donor cadavers More...
Nov 21, 2010
Celeste
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 04, 2010
Skyring
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An interesting contrast to The Mammoth Cheese by Ms Holman. I also liked the interview conducted by Mr Liss at the end of the book, where Sheri talks about the background and the writing.
This is an odd book in almost every way. The characters are gruesome and diverse. Deformed, depraved, desperate. The setting is squalid. The plot is disturbing and confronting.
And the narrative style is ... different. The author makes some comments on this at the end, but for the first few pa More...
This is an odd book in almost every way. The characters are gruesome and diverse. Deformed, depraved, desperate. The setting is squalid. The plot is disturbing and confronting.
And the narrative style is ... different. The author makes some comments on this at the end, but for the first few pa More...
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Nov 11, 2009
Quiltgranny
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This is a dark story of a prostitute and doctors set during the time of the cholera epidemic in the mid 1800's. The epigraph from Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary:Grave: A place where the dead are laid to await the coming of the medical student"sets the theme for this time period of the adversities of an early 19th-century industrial city.
The 15 year old protagonist, Gustine, is a potter's assistant by day, and prostitute by night. An interesting vehicle to tell the story i More...
The 15 year old protagonist, Gustine, is a potter's assistant by day, and prostitute by night. An interesting vehicle to tell the story i More...
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Apr 17, 2011
Terence
rated it:
A very strong 3.5+ stars, which I’m rounding up to 4 because I enjoyed it more than other recent books I’ve given 3 stars to (damnit GR, give us ½ stars or more of them to play with!).
The Dress Lodger takes place in 1831 in Sunderland, an industrializing seaport on the northeast coast of England, as cholera gains its first foothold in the kingdom. It’s a decidedly grim novel, uncompromising in showing the desperate and dehumanizing poverty of the city’s denizens, and the callow and c More...
The Dress Lodger takes place in 1831 in Sunderland, an industrializing seaport on the northeast coast of England, as cholera gains its first foothold in the kingdom. It’s a decidedly grim novel, uncompromising in showing the desperate and dehumanizing poverty of the city’s denizens, and the callow and c More...
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Feb 04, 2012
Frank
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Although the writing style of Holman was a little disconcerting at first, you get used to it as the story progresses. The story was very captivating and disturbing about the life of a young prostitute during the Cholera epidemic of 1831. Gustine is a "dress lodger" -- a prostitute who rents a dress from her landlord and then sells herself on the street. Interwoven into the novel is the story of Dr. Henry Chivers, a doctor who specializes in anatomy and his quest for human cadavers to f
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Nov 08, 2011
Laurie
rated it:
To tell the truth I was drawn to this book by the cover! I knew absolutely nothing about it. Then when I went to check it out my local librarian told me what a great book it was!
I was sold!! Until I began to read the first few pages.... What the?? I nearly didn't continue. After struggling along, things began to come together. Then before long I realized that I was reading a very well researched work of historical fiction! THIS was a good read! And although gruesome at times (no More...
I was sold!! Until I began to read the first few pages.... What the?? I nearly didn't continue. After struggling along, things began to come together. Then before long I realized that I was reading a very well researched work of historical fiction! THIS was a good read! And although gruesome at times (no More...
Jun 06, 2010
Ruth
rated it:
320 pages.
In Sunderland, England, a city quarantined by the cholera epidemic of 1831, a defiant, fifteen-year-old beauty in an elegant blue dress makes her way between shadow and lamplight. A potter's assistant by day and dress lodger by night, Gustine sells herself for necessity in a rented gown, scrimping to feed and protect her only love: her fragile baby boy. She holds a glimmer of hope after meeting Dr. Henry Chiver, a prisoner of his own dark past. But in a world where suspicio More...
In Sunderland, England, a city quarantined by the cholera epidemic of 1831, a defiant, fifteen-year-old beauty in an elegant blue dress makes her way between shadow and lamplight. A potter's assistant by day and dress lodger by night, Gustine sells herself for necessity in a rented gown, scrimping to feed and protect her only love: her fragile baby boy. She holds a glimmer of hope after meeting Dr. Henry Chiver, a prisoner of his own dark past. But in a world where suspicio More...
Oct 13, 2009
Christine
rated it:
This a strange story about a young prostitute named Gustine who wears a beautiful blue dress provided by her pimp, also her landlord. This dress kind of tricks people on the street into thinking she is a higher class kind of girl thus helping her get some decent johns. Her pimp employs a one-eyed old lady, called "The Eye" who shadows Gustine everywhere she goes.
Gustine somewhat befriends herself to the local noteworthy doctor by helping him procure bodies, AKA stealing t More...
Gustine somewhat befriends herself to the local noteworthy doctor by helping him procure bodies, AKA stealing t More...
Feb 06, 2009
Michele
rated it:
This was a gritty, dark book. It takes place during the Spanish Cholera outbreak in England. I can still see in my mind the slimy vegetable leavings on the front porches, the polluted air, the poor families starving to death.
Then there's Gustine covered in pottery clay head to foot as she works in the factory and then dons the blue dress at night to earn money as a prostitute, all to feed her precious baby boy.
There's the Eye who follows her to make sure she doesn't s More...
Then there's Gustine covered in pottery clay head to foot as she works in the factory and then dons the blue dress at night to earn money as a prostitute, all to feed her precious baby boy.
There's the Eye who follows her to make sure she doesn't s More...
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Sep 08, 2011
Adelina
rated it: 
I thought it was just ok. I mean.... It was interesting to see how all of the characters interacted without anyone really knowing each other but other than that, boring. It did not have what I wanted from the book at all. I wanted late night hunting for corpses, running with the dirt still sticking to the coffins, excitement, chases, and just dead corpses. Instead I got Henry, a boring character that had no substance to him that was haunted by ghosts of his past, but nothing really good or inter
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Apr 22, 2010
Peggy
rated it:
I liked this book, but found it very dark and morbid to read. It really made me think how the upper class has one set of rules and expectations for themselves, but another set of rules for the lower class.
This book had to do with cholera. A young doctor was always looking for dead bodies to autopsy to find the causes of cholera and to learn how the human body works. He was a teacher to young men wanted to be doctors and they used the bodies to practice on. If he didn't have a body, h More...
This book had to do with cholera. A young doctor was always looking for dead bodies to autopsy to find the causes of cholera and to learn how the human body works. He was a teacher to young men wanted to be doctors and they used the bodies to practice on. If he didn't have a body, h More...
Aug 02, 2010
Deana
rated it:
As a whole, I enjoyed this book. Don't let the first chapter turn you away - it's super annoying, written in second (?!!) person, and I almost just ditched the book because of this. But then there was a long plane ride, and I was bored, so I pulled it out, and I'm glad I did. The second person returns a few times for brief interludes, but is far less annoying at that point. The book takes place in 1831 in the midst of an epidemic in the town. Though the book is fictional, I felt I learned a lot
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Jun 14, 2009
Georgina
rated it:
I read this book again after reading it about 6 years ago. I love this era in historical fiction and it has everything you could want in a book. Set in England in the time of Cholera it depicts the story of a fifteen year old girl Gustine who is a factory worker by day and prostitute by night. It's well written and a page turner, I was completely engrossed by the begining right through to the end. It depicts the time in the 1800's very well as I am a huge historical fiction reader, it had every
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Sep 24, 2011
Kristin
rated it:
The Dress Lodger is the kind of historical fiction that makes the reader get down on her hands and knees and kiss 21st century ground! Especially if said reader is not a millionaire. This is a tale of the Victorian poor, more poignant and grim than even Dickens. Holman touches on the fact that even if one was lucky enough to have a job that just barely kept you from starving, the job itself would probably kill you from phosphorus poisoning, from mercury poisoning, from lead poisoning, from dange
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Dec 09, 2008
L
rated it:
This would have been a 3, but for the ending. It did not go in the direction I thought it was headed, which was a delight. It's historical fiction, which is not usually my bag, but here we're dealing with the cholera epidemic in England in 1831. Our dress lodger is a street walker (with the dress attracting a higher level of clientelle) with a straight day-job and an infant to support. The focus is on the poor, who suffer the plague, and a few of the wealthy, particularly a doctor who wants thei
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Nov 02, 2011
Charla
rated it:
I finished this book over a week ago and I have waited to write my review because I wanted to let it sink in before I wrote about it. While reading this book, I found myself flip flopping back and forth from loving it, to hating it. I think this is because the characters are surviving in such a dreary place in such a terrible time in history. There is filth everywhere and a threat of Cholera looming over everyone. The main character is Gustine, a 15 year old prostitute. Gustine is not an ord
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Sep 19, 2009
Tiffany
rated it:
I read this book quite a while ago, and yet I still find myself thinking about it enough that soon I will have to take myself back to the library to borrow it again. It was a very visual book, it seemed to capture the era, the cholera-ridden streets of London, and the unsafe, unclean, and unsavoury manner in which our characters lived. By no means are the main character's actions condoned, however, in the situation in which she has found herself in, you cannot blame her, either. The notion of th
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May 14, 2009
Erin
rated it:
The Dress Lodger is set in Sunderland, England in 1831, just as the cholera epidemic spreads though the city. It tells the story of Gustine, a 15-year old potter's assistant/ prostitute who develops an unlikely alliance with a local doctor. She helps him find dead bodies for research dissection and he offers to help her baby, a child born with its heart on the outside of its chest. The world of this novel is grimy, dark and oppressive. There is tragedy for everyone involved. I thought it wa
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Jan 08, 2012
Susan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 18, 2009
Chana
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I’ve had a hard time deciding how to approach a journal entry for this book. It was disturbing and beautiful both. While reading it I kept thinking, ‘Dr. Henry Chivers is a horse’s ass’ but really he wasn’t. He was possibly mentally unbalanced and he was casually cruel in the way only people who think they are superior and are “doing good” in the world can be. The writing is immediate because of the entrancing imagery, but also allowed the reader some distance because of the historic More...
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May 12, 2010
Marley
rated it:
I have tried to review this book twice and it won't go up. This is my last attempt and am reconstructing.
I picked this book up at Logan International two weeks ago and glad that I did. It's Gothic, atmospheric and scary--not in a traditional scary sense, but it creeps under your skin. The nexus of class and medicine/science, which nobody talks about. Fear causes reform. I like that. There are timely do-gooders who muck around in the lives of people whom they will never comprehend More...
I picked this book up at Logan International two weeks ago and glad that I did. It's Gothic, atmospheric and scary--not in a traditional scary sense, but it creeps under your skin. The nexus of class and medicine/science, which nobody talks about. Fear causes reform. I like that. There are timely do-gooders who muck around in the lives of people whom they will never comprehend More...
Feb 11, 2012
Christine
rated it:
Our local bookstore gives you a free book/item of their choosing once you've bought roughly about 20 books or so. It was a tote bag, a blank notebook or this- with that came an excuse to give in to my taste for historical fiction.
Bleak English town; 18th century; cholera. Need I say more?
What I did like about this book, while it lacked some of the twists and turns that would have made for a more riveting read, was the very palpable, unique narrative voice. There was a main narrator, bu More...
Bleak English town; 18th century; cholera. Need I say more?
What I did like about this book, while it lacked some of the twists and turns that would have made for a more riveting read, was the very palpable, unique narrative voice. There was a main narrator, bu More...
