Monday 10th November - Daphne Glazers The Wardrobe Do the Clothes Maketh the Woman? Reviewed by Michelle Dee

In Daphne Glazers case they certainly do. Daphne, a novelist and short story writer was originally from Sheffield she now resides in Hull with her family and beloved parrot, "Squawter". Her father was also a writer though his work is sadly unpublished. In her early twenties Daphne lived and worked in Nigeria where she produced a serial in a national newspaper. She wrote her first book in 1992 and followed that with her second called, "Dressing Up" , in 1994. She introduced the glitzy world of Glazer she finds glamour in strip-joints and council estates inhabited by dossers and druggies and pregnant school girls.

Sex love and loss followed in 1997 then she embarked on a novel about the sharp end of hairdressing titled "The Cutting Edge". Many of her short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 including recently a piece from her latest collection, "The Wardrobe" called "Knickers". I first saw Daphne at the EICH Gallery as part of the literature festival in Hull on a Monday evening. She was comfortably dressed in a purple shirt, striped trousers with her dark red hair hanging loose and curly about her face. On her feet she wore gold boots, her reading boots no less. On enquiry she later admitted to having a shoe fetish.

Clothes are again the central theme in her latest collection of short stories. In "The Wardrobe" you are taken on a quirky journey examining the reasons behind why we wear what we wear and how others perceive us from glimpses of our wardrobes. The aforementioned " Knickers" is a study of underwear as an indicator of where you are in society. Whether you are a success or failure as a woman can be determined by your choice of underwear.

At its centre there is Jane and she believes her life should and would be different if she only wore sexier knickers. When she goes on a blind date with the "scraped parsnippy looking" she hunts for new ones in a hope to make herself think she is an alluring sexually active woman rather than the girl who never fitted in. In another story it is the outer clothing that has the mystery and power to captivate.

The Red Dress delves into a bored tutor's world of fantasy and obsession. His student Shelly wears a red dress that bewitches her tutor in her he sees the promise of escape from the everyday drudge of teaching. He finds her enchanting, from her cute handwriting to her delightful dimwittedness. The new energy and zest for his work does not go unnoticed by his colleagues and leads to a confrontation with the head of the college.

Daphne teaches us the mystical power of stockings and the importance of a suit jacket. She breathes life into familiar characters who with her skills of human observation are believable and accessible to both female and male audiences. Daphne reads with style and confidence holding her audience effortlessly. I look forward to reading this latest collection in full when it comes out in January.

Continued on www.thisisull.com...... The Humber Mouth Homepage.

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