As has become customary, each time Rachael or Sophie releases a book, we devote an episode of the podcast to discussing it. This time it’s Sophie's turn, with The Frock Shop, which was published on 21 July 2026 (blurb below).
We had quite the discussion about clothes and why Sophie chose to write a novel about them, as well as the characters and much more besides. Rachael is hard at work on two novels at the moment, one written solo (her usual mode) and the other with Mercedes Mercier (the new mode!), so in due course we’ll be chatting about those too. But for now, we hope you enjoy this chat about The Frock Shop.
About THE FROCK SHOP
On Sydney's lower north shore, in the harbourside suburb of Mosman, there is a charity frock shop. For decades, it has clothed the women of this suburb, through good times and bad, for richer, for poorer.
Local resident Daphne has always worked at the frock shop. And she knows better than most how clothes are used by women as talismans, as armour, as beauty. Clothes are essential parts of women's stories, and those stories are now part of Daphne's life.
Daphne has her own stories, too. Some involve her old friend Adelaide, who still bears the devastating secret that caused her to flee Australia in her youth. Some involve a new friend, Christina, who has been forced to leave her glamorous Los Angeles life to rebuild in her childhood city. Then there is Margot, living a life that is far from what she had dreamed it would be, and Lucy, desperate for escape and the promise of tomorrow.
Not only does the frock shop give them purpose, but the clothes will help them become the women they were destined to be, because it is never too late for a transformation.
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