Critical response
Daneet Steffens of The Boston Globe in her review called it "Blunt, raw and more than a little fantastical, the novel exposes both the dark and the shimmering lights in our human hearts."[19] In a review for New South Wales Writers' Centre, Sophia Barnes gave the novel a positive review and praising Ham, wrote that "Ham has a wonderful sense of the absurdities of human character and the extremes of human behaviour, even in the humdrum domestic lives of a small town."[20] The Australian praised Ham's writing by saying that "Rosalie Ham’s The Dressmaker was one of those rare first novels that arrived virtually unannounced…and gathered momentum largely by word of mouth to become a bestseller and book club favourite. Ham writes delightfully rich set pieces and descriptive passages… Ham’s eye for the absurd, the comical and the poignant are highly tuned. It is a first novel to be proud of, and definitely one to savour and enjoy."[21] The Sydney Morning Herald called it "a feral version of Sea Change."[7] The Age also appreciated Ham's writing by saying that "Ham does show herself a writer with strong visual gifts and a pleasingly sour sense of humour."[7] Another reviewer said in his review that "The Dressmaker is a delightful first novel that is at times laugh-out-loud amusing and which beautifully captures the narrow, small-minded bigotry of rural townships."[22]
Accolades
In 2001, the novel was short-listed for Christina Stead Prize for Fiction at New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and was nominated for Vision Australia’s Braille Book of the Year and Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award. In 2007, it was the finalist at State Library of Victoria's Most Popular Novel.[23][24] The book also made the Victorian Certificate of Education reading list three times.[12]
