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A review by ipomoea
Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson
4.0
First, I have to admit that I was predisposed to like this when Nancy Pearl handed me a copy and told me she thought I'd love it. She was right, of course.
The jacket copy hints that the city is on the eve of WWI, so I was hesitant to start the book-- I wasn't in the headspace to read about war, I wanted a cozy romance. While I can definitely say this was a romance, it wasn't a usual romance, and what I was far more interested in was Susanna herself, not her lover.
If you love sensous descriptions of fashion, read this. Susanna's love of her work is clear, and the way Ibbotson writes about the fabric, the draping, and the outfits all combined to suck me in. While war is coming, it is never overtly mentioned. Instead, the small tragedies and dramas of everyday life in a square in Vienna are what rule Susanna's life, as they would anyone's. I would suggest this to people who like Maeve Binchy for the neighborhood ensemble feel, and to people who were impatient for Eloisa James' next Dressmakers book for the fashion talk.
The jacket copy hints that the city is on the eve of WWI, so I was hesitant to start the book-- I wasn't in the headspace to read about war, I wanted a cozy romance. While I can definitely say this was a romance, it wasn't a usual romance, and what I was far more interested in was Susanna herself, not her lover.
If you love sensous descriptions of fashion, read this. Susanna's love of her work is clear, and the way Ibbotson writes about the fabric, the draping, and the outfits all combined to suck me in. While war is coming, it is never overtly mentioned. Instead, the small tragedies and dramas of everyday life in a square in Vienna are what rule Susanna's life, as they would anyone's. I would suggest this to people who like Maeve Binchy for the neighborhood ensemble feel, and to people who were impatient for Eloisa James' next Dressmakers book for the fashion talk.