2021 - The Dressmaker's Secret, Rosalie Ham

Photos: author Rosalie Ham, the cover of The Dressmaker's Secret, Rosalie in conversation with interviewer Amy Heap, the Gala Dinner audience at Wagga RSL, and Rosalie Ham speaking at the Gala Dinner.

Author Rosalie Ham sits smiling in black and white, with a lattice fence in the background

Next to a sporty red 1950s car, a young woman sporting a red dress and spotted head kerchief faces a change-laden wind.

Interviewer Amy Heap in conversation onstage with author Rosalie Ham

Guests at the Gala Dinner, Wagga RSL, view the conversation between Amy and Rosalie

Rosalie is speaking to her audience while holding a microphone and sitting in front of a display of her books, with a Council banner in the background.

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The novel selected for One Book One Wagga 2021 was The Dressmaker's Secret by Rosalie Ham.

It is 1953 and Melbourne society is looking forward to coronation season, the grand balls and celebrations for the young queen-to-be. Tilly Dunnage is, however, working for a pittance in a second-rate Collins Street salon. Her talents go unappreciated, and the madame is a bully and a cheat, but Tilly has a past she is desperate to escape and good reason to prefer anonymity. Meanwhile, Sergeant Farrat and the McSwiney clan have been searching for their resident dressmaker ever since she left Dungatar in flames. And they aren't the only ones. The inhabitants of the town are still out for revenge (or at least someone to foot the bill for the new high street). So when Tilly's name starts to feature in the fashion pages, the jig is up. Along with Tilly's hopes of keeping her secrets hidden.

Hundreds of library members borrowed The Dressmaker's Secret, and The Wagga RSL Mirage Room was fully packed for the Gala Dinner, with interviewer Amy Heap, on Friday 14th May 2021.