ruthie_the_librarian 's review for:

The Wardrobe Department by Elaine Garvey

3.0

emotional reflective slow-paced

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At the start of the book I'd thought I was reading a story set post WW2.  I'm not sure why I'd got that in my head, but somehow the backstage life felt like a historical setting, and so it was a jolt when a mention of something contemporary jolted me to realise I was reading a story set in 2002.  Anyway, confusing starts aside, I started to enjoy the book once our main character heads back to Ireland for a funeral.  I felt the family life there was well captured, and I was interested in the history there, the different characters, the conversations and the funeral arrangements.  I hadn't been sure what the point of the theatre part had been before, but I felt it did come together at the end.