bionicsarah 's review for:

The Wardrobe Department by Elaine Garvey

4.0

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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As an Am Dram luvie  , I was drawn to this book by its setting in the wardrobe department for London Theatre . The story follows a young Irish girl Mairead who escapes a suffocating family situation to move to London and take up a job working in the wardrobe department of a theatre. 

The story follows her day-to-day life in this job and the characters that she meets along the way including spoiled male leads and spiteful department heads. This is not an easy job by any means and she really struggles.

I love the description of the job itself making replacement gloves for example by hand and sourcing seemed stockings from sex shops in Soho

There is a “me too “ element at the end which is shocking but I really loved the absolute end of the novel it was perfect

The author has a clear flowing writing style. The book was an enjoyable read and I found it difficult to put down reading it in one session.

I’d recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a primarily character driven novel with a unique setting of a London Theatre backstage 

I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book was published on the 13th of February 2025 by Canongate

This review will appear on NetGalley UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com.

It will also appear on Amazon UK