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“The Memory Dress,” by Jade Beer, is a historical fiction novel about a dressmaker who created designs for Diana, Princess of Wales, from the time of her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981 until her death in 1997. Although the main character, Meredith, is a fictional dressmaker, the person for whom she works is Catherine Walker who designed many of Diana’s most recognizable garments.
When Diana’s dresses were sold through Christie’s Auction House in 1997, a total of 80 dresses were listed in the catalog, but only 79 were sold. A dress is missing. Dress Number 19 is gone.
Jayne lives in a 4-family flat in London above Meredith’s. When her morning milk deliveries keep being stolen, Jayne decides to approach her neighbors to find the culprit. She suspects Meredith, her secretive downstairs neighbor. When Meredith invites Jayne into her apartment, Jayne finds the place in disarray. In the kitchen are dozens of bottles of milk arranged on the counter. It becomes obvious that Meredith has signs of dementia. Jayne decides to help her as much as she can.
When Meredith shows Jayne her “memory room,” Jayne finds a series of detailed drawings of couture dresses and gowns strung neatly along the length of the room. Each design includes the dates when they were worn along with the places worn. Jayne quickly recognizes them as dresses worn by Princess Diana.
Meredith has clothes thrown everywhere in her bedroom. When Jayne offers to help her put them away, she discovers an intricately made dress covered with sequins, gold glass beads, and patterns of flowers clearly hand-stitched. Included near the dress is a note signed from Catherine Walker indicating that Diana wanted her to have the dress. This is dress Number 19.
Meredith refers often to her husband William, who is missing, and to a daughter whom she hasn’t seen for years. Jayne is determined to uncover Meredith's extremely interesting past and help her recover her memories as much as possible. She begins by taking Meredith to all the places Diana wore the designs.
Jayne is able to enlist the help of her neighbors to search for Meredith’s family and to make sense of her isolation. Through flashes of Meredith’s life in the late 1980’s to 2018, her story is told.
As the neighbors work together to care for Meredith, they discover that they are all thriving from new friendships. Each neighbor, including Jayne, is suffering in their own way from loneliness, traumatic life events, and a need for someone to care about them.
“The Memory Book” is a novel with satisfying subplots, and it addresses the universal need for human relationships and love. The cover is striking with its painting of a beautiful blue dress on a woman in front of a palace.
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