NEW RELEASE
The Dress Shop of Dreams - Menna van Praag (2014)
Etta owns a dress shop on a quaint street in Cambridge, she believes in magic and has the ability to guide the people who visit her shop into finding the strengths they lack to make their dreams come true. She is the only family her granddaughter, Cora, has. Cora has spent her entire adult life following her parents' dream to make a difference in the world. Walt, the boy who grew up next door to Cora, has been in love with her since childhood but Cora has never noticed since she's put everything she has into making her parents' dream come true. This was a very sad and emotional book at some points, we see Cora struggling to move on from her parents' deaths and even though she has all the love from her grandmother, she will only let herself feel love as far as her comfort will allow, because of fear of loss. One day, Cora's grandmother shares some suspicions regarding her parents' deaths, along with a bit of magic, and with Cora's world turned on its head, she can't let go until she knows the truth. She starts seeing the people around her in a new light and long-buried emotions surface. This was an engrossing story with a very unexpected ending, in all a good read. (KARM)
The Dress Shop of Dreams, by Menna van Praag, is about the life-changing magic of true love. The summary says: "Since her parents' mysterious deaths many years ago, scientist Cora Sparks has spent her days in the safety of her university lab or at her grandmother Etta's dress shop. Tucked away on a winding Cambridge street, Etta's charming tiny store appears quite ordinary to passersby, but the colourfully vibrant racks of beaded silks, delicate laces, and jewel-toned velvets hold bewitching secrets: With just a few stitches from Etta's needle, these gorgeous gowns have the power to free a woman's deepest desires. Etta's dearest wish is to work her magic on her granddaughter. Cora's studious, unromantic eye has overlooked Walt, the shy bookseller who has been in love with her forever. Determined not to allow Cora to miss her chance at happiness, Etta sews a tiny stitch into Walt's collar, hoping to give him the courage to confess his feelings to Cora. But magic spells - like true love - can go awry. After Walt is spurred into action, Etta realises she's set in motion a series of astonishing events that will transform Cora's life in extraordinary and unexpected ways." The Dress Shop of Dreams is out in December 2014.