Review by gingerlocks25 - The Wardrobe Department

gingerlocks25 's review for:

The Wardrobe Department by Elaine Garvey

4.0

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’m starting the year strong with good intentions. (Well, I’m still not prioritising study for my exam next week!), but I’m working on my NetGalley requests. I luckily received an early release for the Wardrobe Department which is out 13th February and I loved it.

We meet Mairead, who’s from the west of Ireland, living and working in London in a Westend theatre. She’s struggling with her finances, her food binging and the sexual predators in the theatre. She’s well aware of her precarious position within the theatre and so threads very carefully.

When her grandmother suddenly dies and she returns home for the funeral, (coincidentally the same time as when the Queen mother died), Mairead is confronted with what life is like back home and reinforces for her why she originally went to London, why she chose this career path and if she would ever fit in.

It was a great exploration “behind the seams” of the wardrobe department in a westend theatre back in the early 2000s, pre-MeToo. It was the perfect Irish read full of self-deprecation, masochism, struggling with identity and a funeral to boot, but I may be a little bit biased as I’m definitely the market for it.

Content Warnings