THE MIDNIGHT DRESS

When a girl disappears a small town is awash with rumors.

Rose Lovell is fifteen and friendless when she and her father blow into the small north Queensland town. Used to being on the fringe, she knows she’ll never fit in. But all that changes when she meets Pearl Kelly. Rose has never had a friend like Pearl. Not one with such a face, who washed her hair in the rain and spewed information like a trail of stars. Pearl insists that Rose attends the Harvest Parade, the small town’s an-nual event, and that she have a dress made. Rose seeks the help of Edie Baker, an old dressmaker, who lives on the outskirts of town in a crum-bling house. The ancient Edie says she’ll make Rose a dress if Rose will help her but when Rose agrees, nothing is ever the same again. The Mid-night Dress is the story of a gown made from scratch by an old woman and an angry young girl. It’s a story of love, friendship and letting go. Karen Foxlee is the author of the debut novel, The Anatomy of Wings, published in her native Australia and in the UK, the US and Spain. It won the Queensland Premiers Literary Award for Emerging Queen-sland author in 2006, the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book 2008, the Dobbie Award 2008, and a Parent’s Choice Gold Award in the US. University of Queensland Press handle rights in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Turkey, Korea, China and Taiwan. All other rights han-dled by InkWell Management.