Better Reading Preview: Dressed by Iris by Mary-Anne O’Connor

Better Reading Preview: Dressed by Iris by Mary-Anne O’Connor

A vivid, romantic story of Sydney in the 1930s Depression – the heartbreak, the glamour, the dark underbelly, the struggle towards a better day – and one young woman’s dream of designing her way from rags to riches. For readers of Natasha Lester and Victoria Purman.

1930: Seventeen-year-old Iris Mitchell dreams of designing clothes, but there’s little spare cash for fashion in their shanty-town home. The gift of a single purple ribbon from would-be boyfriend John Tucker, however, creates an unexpected opportunity … and when Iris’s brother Jim joins the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction, the large, dirt-poor but loving Mitchell family can move to the city. Iris will be torn away from John, but he’s Protestant and she’s Catholic, taboo in their world, so perhaps it wasn’t meant to be…

1932: By day, Iris scrubs the floors at Caron’s, an upmarket department store. By night, she designs and sews in her family’s tiny, crowded house. Friendship with gorgeous, livewire Natasha, one of Caron’s models, allows Iris to show her skills, but will her talent be acknowledged… or exploited?

When John reappears, passions are reignited, and Iris must face not only their religious divide, but the apparent impossibility of having both marriage and a career. Meanwhile, the Mitchells must navigate life in a city riven by corruption, dirty politics and gambling. Will their faith, determination and deep family bond save them when tragedy and adversity strike? In 1930s Sydney, the stakes have never been higher …

We have 100 copies of this book to give away. For your chance to Preview this book, click on the link and fill in the registration form.

OUR FORM DOES NOT GO LIVE UNTIL 1:30PM – IF YOU CAN’T SEE IT AFTER 1:30PM, PLEASE REFRESH YOUR PAGE. THERE IS NO NEED TO EMAIL BETTER READING – IT IS A SIMPLE REFRESH ISSUE. 

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We invite our trusted community to engage directly with the nation-wide conversation about books by registering for Preview, our new crowd-sourced book review platform. Due to the insight and perceptiveness of our readers, we are launching a platform that allows your voice to be heard.

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Like us on Facebook AND subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven’t already!) to hear about the next Preview campaign. You must subscribe to our newsletter to hear about the latest Preview campaigns.

When a campaign is launched, readers will have 24 hours in which to send through their expression of interest, by filling in the registration form above. After 24 hours, Preview readers will be randomly selected from the pool of those who expressed interest in receiving and reviewing a free advance copy of the specified book. Usually these advance copies are printed three to four months before they hit bookshops, making Preview a great way to find out about upcoming titles before anyone else.

But be warned – there are only limited copies of each Preview book available for review.

You will only be contacted if you were successful in being selected.

When you register you are expressing interest for the following:

A free advance copy of the specified book sent to your postal address, in exchange for a brief review of the book that may be used for promotional purposes by Better Reading and the relevant publisher.

Important details:

– We need all your details, including your email address and postal address, for your expression of interest to be successful.

– Preview is currently only open to Australia-based readers.

– A successful registration to review a Preview book is for that single title, only. With every new Preview book announced, you will need to express interest again.

– When announced, Preview expressions of interest are open for 24 hours.

– Better Reading and the relevant publisher will never share the details provided by Preview reviewers for any purposes beyond the relevant Preview campaign.

– Preview demand is very high, and there are only limited spots available for each title. To keep things fair, if you fail to provide a review for a Preview title on two occasions, you will unfortunately not be selected for future Preview titles.

What happens after I express interest?

If you have been successful, you will receive a confirmation email shortly afterwards from Better Reading. This will contain a review deadline and a link through which to submit your review. It will also contain other details on the reviewing process.

About your Preview review:

– Preview reviews may feature on the Better Reading website and the Better Reading Facebook page. The relevant publisher may also use the reviews for promotion. When reviews are used for promotional purposes, each reviewer will only be identified by their first name and Australian state. Reviews may be edited slightly, just for the purposes of brevity and clarity.

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                      Mary-Anne O'Connor
                      About the author

                      Mary-Anne O'Connor

                      Bestselling author Mary-Anne O'Connor has a combined arts education degree with specialties in environment, music and literature. After a successful marketing career she now focuses on writing fiction and non-fiction as well as public speaking. Mary-Anne lives in a house overlooking her beloved bushland in northern Sydney with her husband Anthony, their two sons Jimmy and Jack, and their very spoilt dog Saxon. Her previous novels are Gallipoli Street (2015), Worth Fighting For (2016), War Flower (2017), In a Great Southern Land (2019), Where Fortune Lies (2020) and Sisters of Freedom (2021).

                      Books by Mary-Anne O'Connor

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                      1. Dale Harcombe says:

                        I received an email from you about this book and want to register to try and win a copy but cannot find out how to do it. The link is not coming up. Can you please help?