I really enjoyed this book about a gauche Irish girl coming of age in a London theatre. There are some beautiful parts of the book and Mairead's mixture of both awkwardness and moodiness are beautifully explored. Her visit to Ireland for her grandmother's funeral gives an extra insight into why she is like she is and the novel ends on a beautiful and hopeful note. I look forward to reading Elaine's next book.

An elegant, assured debut that doesn't read like a first novel at all. In London, Mairead mends and toils in the wardrobe department of a theatre, running between the building and the cobblers' to repair shoes, sponging bodily fluids off costumes and raiding Old Compton Street shops for cheap seamed stockings, never quite in the right place, always skint and hungry, dodging the attentions of the male actors and producers who seem to have it all. When her grandmother dies and she returns to Ireland for the funeral, she is forced to reckon with the past and make her own decisions about where her life is going before moving ahead. A curious, elegant book, well-researched without bogging the reader down in too much unnecessary detail, and I look forward to seeing more from Elaine Garvey.

It's a book of two halves - we see Mairead living a life in London as part of the wardrobe department in a small theatre, we feel her awkwardness and her lack of belonging as she struggles to fit in with the life she has chosen. Then when a relative dies she returns very suddenly to Ireland, where we see the characters and the forces that have shaped her. It's a raw and disturbing account and it's very well-drawn, from her own experiences and particularly when she gets to hear her mother's story for the first time. It's a very moving account, very compelling.

I enjoyed the setup of this book, over a weekend. Half of it’s based in London, the other in Ireland.
I thought first half was fascinating, set in a theatre in London’s West End. The low-down on daily task in the wardrobe dept was fascinating, from putting on laundry before you leave at night, to rushing to cobblers before curtain up.
In the second half, it is set in Ireland and goes through family dramas at a funeral. There is an undercurrent in Ireland that I never understood and I get a little frustrated at books that don’t tell you what is going on.
There are a lot of topics touched on but just left vague at the end. Reality of life, I get that but it takes away from what started as a very engaging world.

what a beautiful cover. i cannot wait to see it published in real life! i enjoyed this book too. thank you so much for giving me the e-arc!!

At the start of the book I'd thought I was reading a story set post WW2. I'm not sure why I'd got that in my head, but somehow the backstage life felt like a historical setting, and so it was a jolt when a mention of something contemporary jolted me to realise I was reading a story set in 2002. Anyway, confusing starts aside, I started to enjoy the book once our main character heads back to Ireland for a funeral. I felt the family life there was well captured, and I was interested in the history there, the different characters, the conversations and the funeral arrangements. I hadn't been sure what the point of the theatre part had been before, but I felt it did come together at the end.

When I started this book, I thought it was going to be a fictional telling of life behind the scenes in the theatre world. But it is much more than that. We follow Mairead, who works in the costume department/wardrobe at a run down theatre in London. She is essentially a dogsbody and is stuck doing the worst jobs and running errands for those around her. She gets paid a pittance and is too exhausted to do much else other than work. We also see how much self doubt and low self esteem Mairead has and that is emphasised when the story returns her to her hometown in Ireland. She gets stronger as the book goes on though and this leads her to make a couple of big decisions at the end.

This book touches on quite a lot given that it’s quite short. There is a lot around Mairead’s emotions as well as a focus on family dynamics. And even though it’s set in 2002, there are some strong #metoo themes in a world before that phrase existed. If only we had no need for it now!

While I enjoyed reading this book, I felt it lost it’s way at times. Some of it felt a bit repetitive and by the end I didn’t feel as emotionally invested as I had hoped. But maybe that was just me! If I could, I would give it 3.5 stars but will give it 4 because I think the themes are really interesting and I would certainly read another book by the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

The novel follows the story of Mairéad, a young Irish woman working in the wardrobe department in a run=down London theatre in the 2002. She's a lonely misfit, good at what she does but lacking in confidence and at the mercy of mysoginists and uncaring people. She goes back to Ireland for her grandmother's funeral and we begin to understand why she is like she is.
This is not a rip-roaring read where a lot happens. It's a quiet and sensitive and moving story which could have plummeted into the depths of despair. But it didn't and the resiliance Mairéad shows in the face of adversity gives the reader hope that things will turn out all right for her in the end. I would love to revisit the protagonist ten or twenty years later and see how her life panned out.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this novel.

Really interesting book that I didn't expect to love as much as I did. Quite introspective and very beautifully written.

Really enjoyed this book, was a real page turner. The characters were very interesting. Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy

This novel which is set in 2002 is about a young Irish woman, Mairéad Sweeney, who has moved to London to work in a West End Theatre’s wardrobe department, where her long hours are spent mending, washing and running errands. She doesn’t really fit in and is subject to bullying by the show’s producer. She does have ambition but feels stuck.
Later she returns to Ireland for her Grandmother’s funeral and begins to understand the reasons for her past choices and what she must do to change herself and her future.
Although well written and recommended for readers who enjoy books by authors such as Louise Kennedy, (whose debut novel Trespasses I adored), for me it didn’t reach the same dizzy heights. The first section of the book gets too bogged down in the minutiae of the clothing repairs Mairéad is required to do. For me it got far more interesting when Mairéad returns to Ireland and the machinations of her family.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for an ARC

I read this really quickly, it was compelling . The strong characters, the theatrical setting, albeit the seedy background and the fantastic central character made it. I loved the fact she wasn’t a cliched Irish girl in London and the detail about fabric which was literally woven throughout the book. I’d absolutely read whatever else Elaine Garvey comes out with. This really doesn’t read like a first novel. Thank you.

3.5 stars rounded up.

It's 2002 and Mairead has left her family home in the north-west of Ireland and started a new life as a wardrobe assistant in a London theatre. Working split shifts in a thankless and unglamorous role with no real friends to speak of and a room in a house share, it's far from what she dreamed of.

It's clear early on that Mairead offers everyone else as little grace as she gives herself, we only start to learn how and why she came to be this way in the second half of the book.

I struggled a lot with this initially, finding it hard to be thrust into the headspace of someone who feels so overlooked and is so wrong-headedly sure of other people's motives.

However, I found the minutiae of life at the theatre fascinating, so that kept me reading, and I'm glad of it because everything did come together very well at the end.

Thanks to Net Galley and Canongate for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

There are some powerful moments in this short novel about a young Irishwoman working in the wardrobe department of a London theatre. Mairead is lonely and lacks confidence and still finding her place in the workplace. About half way through her grandmother dies and she returns to Ireland for the funeral. She has a difficult relationship with her parents as well. At first I wasn’t sure whether there was much going on but in the end it’s quite moving.

This novel takes place over a period of eleven days, at various times in Mairead's life during her time working in the wardrobe department of a theatre in London.
Mairead has escaped to London from Ireland, looking to find herself. Her insecurities about the way she looks and how she feels is beautifully described, while she tries to find her place and fit in with various characters back of house in the theatre. The character descriptions and the atmosphere in the theatre, which is slightly run down and threadbare, are palpable, as is her sense of dislocation in her place of work as well as in the boarding house where she lives. She spends her days arranging shoe repairs, hand washing and sewing, an occupation that is far from glamorous.

A phone call from her family sees her returning home to Ireland. Amongst the familiar and uncomfortable structures of her life in Ireland, as well as the relationships with her family, she learns to deal with change and embrace the possibilities of living a new life.

This snapshot of Mairead's life is really evocative. I could sense the lack of confidence in both herself and her job, and was able to build up a picture of her and the somewhat seedy atmosphere of the theatre.. It's a lovely and satisfying read, with a hopeful ending!

WIth thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I found this to be almost two stand alone books with the 1st book taking place in London where Mairead is a struggling theatre wardrobe assistant from Southern Ireland. Book 2 sees her back home due to a family matter. I was at a bit of a loss what the relationship was between the two. Busy vibrant London then laid back country Ireland. Interesting ending.

Short but densely packed with character and description of a young Irish girl on the cusp of life but working in a menial role backstage in a theatre. Stylish.

An evocative and sensitive book with some great dialogue. A young Irish woman details her life in 2001 London, the minutiae of her work in the wardrobe department of a theatre and the characters she meets. She has to return home for a funeral, and the family dynamics are beautifully observed, as is the fraught mother-daughter relationship.

The Wardrobe Department by Elaine Garvey

In the early 2000s in London, young Irish girl Mairead works as a costume mender in a theatre. Painfully quiet and lacking in confidence, we begin to understand Mairead's background when she returns to Ireland for her grandmother's funeral.

The author does a fantastic job of conveying Mairead's awkwardness and the awfulness of most of the other characters! For a small novella this packs a punch in terms of themes. I particularly liked the observations on class, for example we are told that Mairead had not realised the advantages of being brought up in a piano-owning home... oh my goodness, how to do so much with so few words! Very highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

The Wardrobe Department by Elaine Garvey:

In 2002 London, Mairead works behind the scenes at West End theatre. She encounters sexism, racism and a family crisis whilst working on Uncle Vanya.

If it sounds like a slight premise, you’d be right. The novel is a slight 167 pages and there’s not enough narrative to pad it out any further. There is no resolution or revelation to close out the novel. Mairead’s family crisis (the death of her grandma) mirrors that of the death of The Queen Mother. There’s also a nod towards 7/7.

As a character, Mairead doesn’t feel lived in, she’s not etched as anything other than a ball of tension. The others - passive aggressive artistic director, radfem director, randy older actor - don’t come across as anything but stereotypes. Plus, the nods to Checkov seem elusive, rather than allusive.

In short, it’s not dynamic enough to be a literary novel and it’s not sprightly enough to be sad girl lit. It’s published by Canongate on February 13th, 2025 and I thank them for a preview copy. #thewardrobedepartment