The Dress by Sophie Nicolls
Published: 28th July 2016 (Paperback)
Publisher: Twenty7
Pages:290
Available in Paperback and on Kindle
Rating 3/5
Today on the blog I'd like to welcome Sophie Nicolls who has written an exclusive piece for the tour detailing her writing rituals, so over to Sophie:
My writing rituals
Do
you have a writing ritual, a way of signalling to yourself that it’s time to
settle down to write?
It
could be as simple as sitting down at your desk with a hot cup of coffee,
perhaps in a special mug; or maybe you even have a particular routine,
something you have to do to create the necessary head space to begin?
The
choreographer and dancer, Twyla Tharp, talks about the power of ritual in her
book, The Creative Habit: Learn it and
use it for life. She writes:
‘It’s vital to establish some rituals – automatic
but decisive patterns of behaviour – at the beginning of the creative process,
when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up or going
the wrong way.’ Twyla Tharp (2006). The
Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life. New York. Simon &
Schuster
In
my own life, there are very often at least fifteen thoughts jostling for
attention in my brain at any one time. As well as working on my own writing, I
teach creative writing full-time at Teesside University and I have a
four-year-old daughter. Thee are always
drafts of my students’ work-in-progress waiting to be read, laundry to take out
of the washing machine, a lunchbox to pack, a play date to schedule. It can be
difficult to make the psychological space to allow the words to flow.
But
as Fabia, one of the main characters in my novel, The Dress, knows only too well, ritual is a powerful way to tap
into the stillness inside us. It’s a way to tune out all that mental chatter
and start to listen - really listen - to what we really want to say.
Fabia
uses rituals – simple household ‘spells,’ for want of a better word – to
conjure the right atmosphere of warmth and welcome in her vintage dress shop.
She washes her floors with lavender-scented water, polishes them with beeswax,
sprinkles salt and lights candles. She uses her special brand of ‘everyday
magic’ to sew new futures for her customers, hiding secret words in the hem of
a skirt or the pocket of a dress, and she keeps the snipped ends of her
embroidery threads in a special jar.
Your
writing rituals don’t need to be as elaborate as Fabia’s, of course. Mine tend
to be very simple. Although I’m rather fond of lighting scented candles and
like to do this at the beginning of an evening writing session, sometimes it’s
as simple as closing the door to my office, sitting down in my chair, letting
my breathing settle, opening my laptop and saying to myself, under my breath,
the magic words: ‘Just write.’
I
often imagine that I’m stepping into a special writing space inside my mind. I
see this space as a circle, traced on the floor. It’s my safe space and, as
soon as I step inside it, nothing can interrupt me. This simple visualisation
helps me to make the transition instantly from the busy outer world to the
stillness of my inner psyche.
I
get some of my best ideas in the shower. Just making the decision to stand
under the hot water for a few moments can be enough to get the words flowing.
It’s also a place where my very talkative four-year-old daughter is unlikely to
follow me.
Fabia
uses rituals – simple household ‘spells,’ for want of a better word – to
conjure the right atmosphere of warmth and welcome in her vintage dress shop.
She washes her floors with lavender-scented water, polishes them with beeswax,
sprinkles salt and lights candles. She uses her special brand of ‘everyday
magic’ to sew new futures for her customers, hiding secret words in the hem of
a skirt or the pocket of a dress, and she keeps the snipped ends of her
embroidery threads in a special jar.
Your
writing rituals don’t need to be as elaborate as Fabia’s, of course. Mine tend
to be very simple. Although I’m rather fond of lighting scented candles and
like to do this at the beginning of an evening writing session, sometimes it’s
as simple as closing the door to my office, sitting down in my chair, letting
my breathing settle, opening my laptop and saying to myself, under my breath,
the magic words: ‘Just write.’
I
often imagine that I’m stepping into a special writing space inside my mind. I
see this space as a circle, traced on the floor. It’s my safe space and, as
soon as I step inside it, nothing can interrupt me. This simple visualisation
helps me to make the transition instantly from the busy outer world to the
stillness of my inner psyche.
I
get some of my best ideas in the shower. Just making the decision to stand
under the hot water for a few moments can be enough to get the words flowing.
It’s also a place where my very talkative four-year-old daughter is unlikely to
follow me.
Rituals
are wonderful ways for writers to slow down, make space and tap into their
subconscious, that place from which creativity flows. As Fabia says, ‘magic is
everywhere, when you know how to look.’
Blurb
Meet Ella and her mother Fabia Moreno who arrive in York, one cold January day, to set up their vintage dress shop. The flamboyant Fabia wants to sell beautiful dresses to nice people and move on from her difficult past. Ella just wants to fit in. But not everyone is on their side. Will Fabia overcome the prejudices she encounters? What's the dark secret she's hiding? And do the silk linings and concealed seams of her dresses contain real spells or is this all just 'everyday magic'? Among the leopard-print shoes, tea-gowns and costume jewellery in Fabia's shop are many different stories - and the story of one particular dress.
Review
The Dress by Sophie Nicholls tells the story of Fabia Moreno
and her daughter Ella who have just arrived in York and are setting up a
vintage dress shop. Fabia is Iranian but is pretending to be Italian in order
to blend into the community more as she seems to be on the run from something,
she is a fabulous seamstress and begins to sew a little magic into the clothes
of the ladies of York, bringing out one or two surprises. As the months pass both mother and daughter struggle
with finding out who they really are and where they belong, especially Ella as
the older she gets the more she believes Fabia is hiding something from her.
After seeing such a beautiful cover and the very intriguing blurb
I was very excited to read this and sadly I think I’m a little disappointed as
this book had a couple of things which bugged me and at the end I was still
confused about some things. The first thing that bugged me I think could just
be me, for some reason I was convinced this book was set in the 1950/60s and
the for the first couple of chapters this could easily be the case, until a man
gets a mobile phone out of his pocket, which threw me completely, after that I
found it really hard to determine the precise time the book was set and this
left me unable to completely place the story.
The second thing that annoyed me was an incident which
happens about three quarters of the way through the book, it was completely unexpected
and didn’t fit in with the rest of the story and the author’s writing style. Up
until then the story had been very gentle and descriptive creating a vivid
picture of what was happening and was an enjoyable easy read and this sudden
episode didn’t fit with or add anything to the story.
The ending left me confused as not everything about Fabia’s
past was explained, unless I missed some vital point. Given that this is the
first book in a trilogy I’m hoping more will be explained in the next book.
Despite these reservations I did enjoy some of The Dress, my
favourite part was watching how Ella and Fabia changed. Ella’s always being
such a good girl doing exactly what her mother says and doing her best and
blend in and not be noticed, but as she gets older Ella wants to be noticed, particularly
by friend Billy. I loved this change in Ella and was a little sad the epilogue
skipped so far ahead in time as its missed part of Ella’s growing up which I
would love to have read about. I loved that Fabia despite her reluctance
gradually began to let a little romance into her own life.
I also loved all the descriptions of the dresses and would
actually love to be able to be able to visit Fabia’s shop as it seemed like an Aladdin’s
cave of loveliness. As other reviewers have mentioned The Dress does have
similarities to Chocolat by Joanne Harris with Fabia sewing her magic into the
clothes, I thought this was such a lovely idea and would love her to make a
dress for me.
Overall The Dress was a fairly enjoyable read which had some
lovely moments and I’d be interested to see where the author takes the story in
the next book.
Thank you to Twenty 7 for sending me a review copy and for
inviting me on the blog tour and thank you to Sophie Nicholls for popping in.
