Wearing Paper Dresses by Anne Brinsden [4/10]

In “Wearing Paper Dresses,” Marjorie grows up in the Victorian Mallee, a harsh, unforgiving landscape, from the 1950s. With her sister, she deals with a highly strung city-bred mother who struggles to adapt, through the seasons of drought and rain, until tragedy strikes. An interesting tale of a struggling family, mental illness, and fortitude, “Wearing Paper Dresses” offers an escapist read deepened by insight, although the idiosyncratic, intrusive writing style proved irksome to me (something that might be a sub-genre effect).