A Review of Painted Dresses by Patricia Hickman
July 25, 2008
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
(WaterBrook Press – July 15, 2008)
by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Patricia Hickman is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction, whose work has been praised by critics and readers alike.
Patricia Hickman began writing many years ago after an invitation to join a writer’s critique group. It was headed up by best-selling author Dr. Gilbert Morris, a pioneer in Christian fiction who has written many best selling titles. The group eventually came to be called the “Nubbing Chits”. All four members of the original “Chits” have gone on to become award-winning and best selling novelists (good fruit, Gil!).
Patty signed her first multi-book contract with Bethany House Publishers. After she wrote several novels “for the market”, she assessed her writer’s life and decided she would follow the leanings of her heart. She says, “It had to be God leading me into the next work which wound up being my first break-out book, Katrina’s Wings. I had never read a southern mainstream novel, yet I knew that one lived in my head, begging to be brought out and developed.” She wanted to create deeper stories that broke away from convention and formula. From her own journey in life, she created a world based upon her hometown in the 70’s, including Earthly Vows and Whisper Town from the Millwood Hollow Series.
Patty and her husband, Randy, have planted two churches in North Carolina. Her husband pastors Family Christian Center, located in Huntersville. The Hickmans have three children, two on earth and one in heaven. Their daughter, Jessi, was involved in a fatal automobile accident in 2001. Through her writing and speaking, Patty seeks to offer help, hope and encouragement to those who walk the daily road of loss and grief.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In this story of sisterhood and unexpected paths, Gaylen Syler-Boatwright flees her unraveling marriage to take refuge in a mountain cottage owned by her deceased aunt. Burdened with looking after her adult sister, Delia, she is shocked to find a trail of family secrets hidden within her aunt’s odd collection of framed, painted dresses. With Delia, who attracts trouble as a daily occupation, Gaylen embarks on a road trip that throws the unlikely pair together on a journey to painful understanding and delightful revelations.
Steeped in Hickman’s trademark humor, her spare writing voice, and the bittersweet pathos of the South, Painted Dresses powerfully captures a woman’s desperate longing to uncover a hidden, broken life and discover the liberty of living authentically, even when the things exposed are shrouded in shame.
If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE
Sally Says: The book’s back cover says that Patricia Hickman writes with the bittersweet pathos of the South, and that could not be more true in Painted Dresses. If you’re a big fan of Southern fiction, you will probably love this book.
I am not a big fan of Southern fiction. Those novels tend to be hit-or-miss for me. And this book, to me, did miss.
I know this is going to be one of those reviews that will be largely based on preference. I have to say that Patricia is an excellent writer. There were no writing techniques that bothered me in this book. It was all taste.
First, there are a lot of characters, and I had a hard time figuring out all the family. Some of them I never did get straight, but fortunately that didn’t turn out to be a big deal. Second, many of the characters were rather crude, unpolished. I’m not talking manners or etiquette — rather they sometimes edged on coming across as vulgar and uncouth. (Sheesh, I sound so snobbish here, I know.) Along with this, the book was a bit edgy for my tastes. There were some brief scenes that gave me too much info.
Lastly, the secret of the painted dresses is not a pretty one. There have been other books written on this topic (I won’t give it away for those of you who decide to read it), books I’ve read and enjoyed and found tasteful, but this one was just a bit too graphic, a bit too much. I found it to be almost depressing the closer I came to the end.
So to sum it up — aren’t you glad? — if you enjoy Southern fiction, you’ll love it. Great writing, a lot of realism. If you’re a bit queasy about certain topics, this may not be your cup of tea.