Sweet surprise: ‘The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison’ by Meredith Jaffe

I borrowed the audio version of this novel from my local library (shout-out to the wonderful folk at Blue Mountains Libraries and public libraries everywhere!)

I was not familiar with the author but looking for a light read to occupy my ears while doing those otherwise boring tasks around the house. An audiobook is perfect to help the chores get done and this one had such an intriguing title. I wasn’t sure what I’d find: romcom? cosy crime? (the setting is a prison, after all) or a tale of redemption?

The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison does have elements of all the above. Derek Brown is serving a prison term for embezzlement, and knows he has no chance of attending his daughter Debbie’s upcoming wedding. He’s not seen or spoken to Debbie in years and his ex-wife Lorraine is keen to keep it that way.

But Derek is part of the prison sewing group (called ‘BackTackers’), a program run by volunteer Jane, as a way to help inmates pass the hours in a productive way while making positive connections within the gaol. Someone hits on the idea of making a wedding dress for Derek to give his daughter, as a way of telling her how much he loves her.

Derek usually likes to keep a low profile, take no risks, keep his head down…but to his own astonishment, he eventually agrees to the plan and so the project begins.

What follows is a series of twists and turns even more complicated than a dress pattern. Local politics gets involved when the treasured prison library is threatened. A prison riot threatens everyone’s safety. Corruption, both inside and outside the prison walls, plays its part.

There are some wonderful characters, especially among Derek’s fellow inmates, each of whom has their own story, their reason for being in prison and their thoughts and hopes about their futures. They are all very believable, no angels certainly, but much more nuanced than those we might see on a typical TV show or movie about prisons and those who live and work there.

The wedding dress symbolises so much about life, relationships, new beginnings. It almost becomes a character in its own right as each person invests this project with meaning far beyond the original purpose.

Of course there are many obstacles and problems along the way and Derek comes to wish he’d never agreed to the plan in the first place. There are some real laugh-out-loud moments as well; the author has nailed some aspects of behaviour and manners that are very funny indeed. At times I winced and chuckled at the same time.

It’s a sweet book without being sugary, yet also manages to be quite thought-provoking.

In all, a perfect book to be lost in while doing chores!

The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison was published by HarperCollins in 2021.