There were lovely parts to this novel, especially the sections set in Ireland. The London parts felt from an earlier era than the one intended and I also felt overwhelmed by the number of characters in the theatre setting - I kept losing track of who was who. (Maybe that was just me!). I did have empathy for Mairéad, and was hoping for better things for her in both Ireland and London.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, although I did think it was a little slow in places, still a good read.

This is a brief yet exquisitely written piece of literary fiction that captivates with its atmospheric storytelling. I find it hard to put into words, but this book truly transports me to the vivid locations the narrator describes. Each scene unfolds like a painting, immersing me in the sights and sounds of the world within its pages. I particularly enjoyed delving into the hidden intricacies of glamorous theater life, uncovering the untold stories that lie behind the glittering facade. I enjoy it lots

This is the heartfelt account of a young Irish girl’s attempt to find herself in London. Mairead works in the pressurised wardrobe department of a West End theatre, always under pressure, under-valued and misunderstood.
Silently putting up with criticism, prejudice and reluctant to become like her party-loving colleagues, or succumb to the unrelenting macho advances from the actors, yet desperately not wishing to return to Ireland until a family tragedy pulls her back home.
In many ways her own family life is a dramatic mirror of the theatrical production she works in, and her wish to remain behind the scenes.
I found the endless dialogue of the theatre setting less engaging than the Irish family life, but the character portrayal was vivid and inevitably family secrets reveal themselves to explain her need to feel like she always needs to run away.
Was I gripped by the novel? No. Did I sympathise with her ? Yes. I felt the novel ended abruptly just when she finally found her voice, and it felt like her life might become more interesting.

I was asked to review this book by NetGalley - I was not sure of what to make of this shoert story at first but boy did it pitch a punch!

This is a complex read release date 13 February 2025.

This is the story of a young irish woman called Mairéad. She works in a small London Theatre. This is not glamour as the costumes are always in need of repair, stained and smelly. Although she is not part of the cast and cre - she gets caught up with the bitchiness and patronising people. Oliver the shows producer is overbearing and nasty.

Mairéad feels alone in the theatre and London. She definately feels out of place with the cast and crew. Coming from Ireland, but she has little contact with her family and seems to be esaping something.

Going back to Ireland for a funeral makes her look at herself and in this making some big decisions.

Well written, atmospheric and interesting thought provoking read.

I’m starting the year strong with good intentions. (Well, I’m still not prioritising study for my exam next week!), but I’m working on my NetGalley requests. I luckily received an early release for the Wardrobe Department which is out 13th February and I loved it.

We meet Mairead, who’s from the west of Ireland, living and working in London in a Westend theatre. She’s struggling with her finances, her food binging and the sexual predators in the theatre. She’s well aware of her precarious position within the theatre and so threads very carefully.

When her grandmother suddenly dies and she returns home for the funeral, (coincidentally the same time as when the Queen mother died), Mairead is confronted with what life is like back home and reinforces for her why she originally went to London, why she chose this career path and if she would ever fit in.

It was a great exploration “behind the seams” of the wardrobe department in a westend theatre back in the early 2000s, pre-MeToo. It was the perfect Irish read full of self-deprecation, masochism, struggling with identity and a funeral to boot, but I may be a little bit biased as I’m definitely the market for it.

Set in a London theatre in the early years of the 21st century, this very short novel promised much as I began to read. The narrator is a young Irish girl, Mairéad, who has escaped from Ireland to work in the wardrobe department, but who has to return home to Ireland for the funeral of her grandmother.
Written in a terse, short sentenced narrative, the book soon became tedious and all the many characters slightly overwhelming as I tried to remember who was which and what role they were playing either when in touch (literally and figuratively) with Mairéad or when on stage in 'Uncle Vanya,' the play which is alluded to in a rather hazy way.
I found that it all became tedious and jerky due to style as well as content. I felt no empathy with or for the characters, and was rather relieved to reach the end. Had it not been an ARC for which to write a review, I don't think I would have bothered to read to the end, alas. Obviously just not my 'thing.'
With thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.

I really wanted to like this, but it's too much of a "good in parts" experience for me...

Loved the backroom setting, with its sneaky peak at the glamour of the theatre but weighed down by the unappreciated hardworking and general spite. However, not keen on the old "country bumpkin", "fun London", "no-one cares London" chestnuts not so subtly handled. The Ireland-set scenes felt so much more vibrant as if the author felt more secure in writing them. The frequent references to Cromwell are irritating; the reader needs more background here unless they are already very familiar with Irish history and politics; can everything be blamed on Cromwell?

I wanted to know more about the other characters - especially those in Ireland (particularly Iggy) - and less about Mairead, who was too much of a drama queen for my tastes.

In essence, a very promising book which failed to deliver for me.

Wonderful descriptive settings in London and Ireland lend a hand to giving the story it's appeal.
There are some beautiful moments, as we explore human nature in its various forms.
However, at times I struggled to engage with the characters and the storyline.
The verdict is out for me on this one......it is worth a read, and I award it a steady 3 stars.

‘The Wardrobe Mistress’ is a novel which is set in two very different worlds – that of early twenty first century London, where Mairead works in the wardrobe department of a London theatre, and the family home in rural Ireland where she returns for her grandmother’s funeral.
I struggled to engage with Mairead and her life in London. Perhaps the drab descriptions and muted feelings are meant to suggest Mairead’s disaffection. The depiction of her mundane days in ‘theatreland’ drags and, for some reason, this world feels as if it exists in post-war London rather than the very recent past. The theatrical stereotypes encountered don’t help either.
When she returns to Ireland, we begin to understand why Mairead is as she is through the familial relationships that are developed in this half of the novel. However, I’m not sure that this development redeems the narrative overall. Elaine Garvey can clearly write well but ‘The Wardrobe Mistress’ gave me nothing new or better portrayed than other recent novels I’ve read that have focused on difficult family dynamics and the damage they cause.
My thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Mairéad is a young woman between a rock and a hard place. Small town, small mind Ireland is not for her but then she’s adrift in the metropolis of London too.

Her character is not fully developed and some of her co-characters appear to be stereotypes of the theatre scene. And we are left with a question unanswered - what is her ‘sickness’? Margaret suggests one thing but there is no evidence for that in the rest of the novel.

More flesh on the bones needed.

I have to be totally honest and say that as I started to read this book, I thought it wasn’t for me. But, after a couple of chapters, I was drawn into the story and became enthralled with the life of Mairéad behind the scenes in the wardrobe department of a struggling London theatre. Most of the story is set in London, but when she returns to Ireland for her grandmothers funeral, a lot of Mairéads characteristics fall into place and we understand a lot more about her and her life choices. On the whole, I would say this is a good book and well worth a read. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I got off to a slow start with this book and struggled to warm to Mairead and the theatre people she works with in London. However, I could see the difficulties she had in fitting in and adapting to the new life she had chosen, leaving her family and old life in rural Ireland. Only when she goes home for her grandmothers funeral do you see how different and claustrophobic her Irish life was and I found myself cheering for Mairead when she decides to return and embrace her London future once more.

Elaine Garvey's "The Wardrobe Department" tells the story of Mairéad--a woman who works in the wardrobe department of a London theatre. She's a bit rudderless and unsure of what she wants to do. She comes from Ireland, and she lives a short of ghostly existence, barely present in her day-to-day life. Through her interactions with people in the theatre, we see how she constantly has to manoeuvre the disparate personalities that make up a theatrical production.

The book then shifts to Ireland where Mairéad returns for a funeral. Here, family tensions boil over, and longstanding truths are finally revealed. When Mairéad returns home, we see why she does not actively engage with the people around her when she's working in London. She's developed passivity into an artful defence mechanism.

Garvey has a clear eye for what transpires behind the scenes in the theatre, and she creates vivid portraits of these theatrical types. Even those of us with minimal knowledge of the theatre will recognise many of the types she writes about here. Garvey has a keen eye for the offbeat bit of dialogue or the revealing part of someone's personality. These parts of the novel are my favourite passages in this short novel.

The novel is let down by two things. The Irish funeral section feels too familiar, and less developed. The characters in the Irish funeral section are not as sharply realised. The novel also has too many characters in both sections, so it's often hard to remember who is who and how they are connected to Mairéad. This makes reading the novel a bit frustrating at times because there are just so many relationships to keep track of, and I think the novel could have been longer so that the reader could have spent time with Mairéad and her professional and family lives. With that said, it's always a good sign when you want a novel to be longer not shorter.

A beautifully written, poignant piece about work, theatre, grief, Ireland, family and independence. I found Mairéad to be an extremely relatable character in terms of her mindset towards many things.

As a big theatre fan, i loved the themes and truly felt that I was up in the dressing rooms, sorting through laundry with Mairéad and her colleagues.

Although short, and featuring many characters, Garvey avoids spreading the story too thinly and instead has created a lovely powerful bittersweet story.

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!!