The Dress Lodger (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by Sheri Holman

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Book Reviews of The Dress Lodger (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Book Review: Book of the Year, absolutely amazing!!
Summary: 5 Stars

There are going to be many readers perhaps unfamiliar with what a "dress lodger" is. The concept is based primarily on capitalization of the poor, and in more basic terminology, it occurs when an amoral, despicable landlord (who also rents to borders) negotiates payment for rental fees in the form of prostitution. In the bargain, he invests in an eye-catching, expensive high society gown that beckons richer clients and higher prices, places it on a wisp of a very young child/woman, and revels in the profits. It is best to take advantage of a very young lady, one in the most dire straits, such as our protagonist, Gustine (not Justine). Gustine is forced to accept no other option but to do this pimp's bidding. Not unexpectantly, she becomes pregnant in the normal course of her "job" and gives birth to a beautifully defected child afflicted with ectopia cordis, also known as a heart misplaced to the outside of the thorax, and literally visible to the world. Noticed immediately as a baby destined to die at any moment, the landlord suffers this inconvenience and sticks his 8 year old mentally handicapped kid as it's main caretaker. (You can see the train wreck coming...)

Overseeing all the the chaos is the bizarre old one eye woman that exchanges the favor of board and care for body guarding the prostitute. This is an assignment she takes quite seriously, and never, ever allows this young charge to leave her sights. Everything the young woman does is observed, (yes, everything) and it is all done to protect what is important.......the life of the dress. Once home, the dress is groomed diligently and restored prominently in the front room as a reminder to Gustine that after she is home from her miserable pottery assistant's job, she has one more job to fulfill.

The year is 1831, in England, and historically relevant for the cholera epidemic that struck and arrived in Sunderland, England. Medical Information was primary at best and generally distrusted and ignored by the population. The government correctly instituted quarantines, but these were largely violated and unsupported by most of the neighboring towns, cities,and especially rejected by the buisnesses that met the basic needs of these neighboring areas. When coupled with the need for furthur medical investigation and infection studies it was a most difficult period in human history.

The medical community required studies of the disease processes, and this in layman's terms meant they needed the bodies of dead people suspected of dying from not only cholera but other diseases as well. Because cholera was wiping out entire towns, it was imperative that the focus be on this disease entitiy. There was no other way to determine how the disease was spread, and to differentiate it from other diseases unless the doctors performed anatomical post mortem exams. Unfortunately, the general population, especially the poor, seriously mistrusted all physicians and suspected them of stealing their bodies for their demonic curiosities. This was the gravest of sins (no pun intended). The government was trying to furthur the work of physicians, as it understood the necessity of post mortem study and was short of passing the Anatomy Act, which would allow the doctors to obtain corpses legally. The rumor of this Act alone, generated rage amongst the poor, certain that they would be the bodies targeted and subjected to all sorts of disgusting experiments. Of these social complexites comes Dr. Henry Chiver, a very progressive, dynamic physician with an intense interest in cardiology. He, amongst other physicians became embroiled in a conspiracy to obtain cadavers in the infamous case of anatomist Hare and Burke who were socially indicted for murdur and grave/body snatching. Unfortunately, the conspiracy was involved in a despicable scam to murder poor and underpriviledged people which became exposed and caused the virtual lynching of the doctors involved. Dr. Chivers escaped, but with a load of remorse and internal conflict for which he ultimately paid dearly for. Despite the risk, he continues to need the necessary subjects..he must have bodies to study the human heart and with his desire comes the possible answer to saving the critically ill infant of Gustine. With such a promise, Gustine meets Dr. Chivers, and each use each other to meet their requirements. Gustine invests all her hope, and assists her doctor to obtain his necessary subjects.

And, so, Dr. Chivers and Gustine and becomes complicated by attraction and need. When Dr. Chivers discovers she has a son suffering with ectopia cordis the situation and relationship changes dramatically. The events become climatic as the cholera plague envelopes the city and the poor take to the streets in a rage against medical advancement.

Summary of The Dress Lodger (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Fifteen-year-old Gustine--the dress lodger--is a potter's assistant by day, prostitute by night. Her overbearing pimp and landlord has her permanently shadowed by an indefatigable, mysterious old woman "called Eyeball or Evil Eye or Gray Sister by boys who have read their Homer, but mostly called just plain Eye." Otherwise how could he guard his investment in the startling blue dress in which Gustine rents herself? Her trade, he explains, "works on this basic principle: a cheap whore is given a fancy dress as a higher class of prostitute, the higher the station of the clientèlle; the higher the station, the higher the price." Gustine's garment beckons Henry Chiver, an ambitious young surgeon who has fled Edinburgh, having been implicated in the convictions of infamous pioneer anatomists Burke and Hare for murder and grave robbing. For this doctor, desperate to reestablish his tarnished reputation through medical discovery, the heart is the favorite organ, "the singular fascination of his life." But to further his researches, and quell the increasing demands of his paying students--who are restless for induction into the arts of the scalpel--Henry requires dead bodies for dissection, to the horror of his naïve, philanthropic fiancée. But the Anatomy Act, which allows doctors to obtain corpses legally, has yet to pass through Parliament, and a suspicious public is terrifying itself with stories of murderous "burkers."

Street-smart Gustine, a pragmatist trapped in unrelenting poverty, is all heart for her nameless little son who wears--literally--his heart on the outside. His rare case of ectopia cordis is just the sort of anatomical anomaly whose study would make a name for the doctor. Amid the gathering momentum of the cholera epidemic, Henry and Gustine strike up a fatal pact: life for her son in exchange for a fresh supply of dead bodies for Henry's dissection. With mordant Dickensian wit and Elizabeth Gaskell's deft touch for gutsy outcast women seizing control of their destiny, Sheri Holman carves out a rich, imaginative adventure as incisive and as gruesomely fascinating as a 19th-century operating theater. --Rachel Holmes

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