Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Mighty Jester | 2014 | Mary Chamberlain | Buy |
| 2 | The Dressmaker’s War / The Dressmaker of Dachau | 2015 | Mary Chamberlain | Buy |
| 3 | The Hidden | 2019 | Mary Chamberlain | Buy |
| 4 | The Forgotten | 2021 | Mary Chamberlain | Buy |
Mary Chamberlain’s four novels share a focus on ordinary people whose lives are shaped by large historical forces, particularly the events of World War II and its aftermath. The Mighty Jester (2014) was her fiction debut, followed by The Dressmaker’s War (2015), which tells the story of Ada Vaughan, a talented seamstress from London who is stranded in Paris when the Germans invade and is eventually imprisoned in Dachau.
The Hidden (2019) explores secrets kept during and after the war, and The Forgotten (2021) continues Chamberlain’s interest in the stories that official history overlooks. Her background in oral history gives her fiction a grounded, intimate quality.