Purl Bundle is married to Fred Bundle and runs the local pub and hotel with him. Purl is an attractive woman and takes pride in her looks. She does not worry that the other women gossip about her because she says they are only jealous. Purl had an affair, and possibly a child, with Bill Beaumont before her marriage to Fred, but this is kept secret by the townspeople. Purl and Fred are now very much in love.
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Purl Bundle Character Timeline in The Dressmaker
The timeline below shows where the character Purl Bundle appears in The Dressmaker. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...but he stopped drinking after suffering a nasty fall when he was drunk. His wife, Purl, washes greens in the kitchen sink. She is a beautiful woman who takes pride in...
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The footballers tumble into the pub after the game, and Purl and Fred Bundle serve them drinks and celebrate with them. Purl notices William in the...
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...o’clock. Fred nods, and Sergeant Farrat makes to leave. On Farrat’s way to the door, Purl stops him and asks if Tilly Dunnage plans to stay in town. Sergeant Farrat replies...
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Chapter 7
...Dungatar’s football team drinks beer and the players discuss their game plan for the finals. Purl listens anxiously and Fred tells her that there will soon be something to celebrate. Purl...
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Purl gossips about Tilly with the men in the bar to distract them from their nerves....
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...Winyerp. Dungatar wins by one point, and the celebration rages all night in Fred and Purl’s bar. At dawn the next day, Beula Harridene walks past the pub and sees people...
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Chapter 12
...Alvin places a wedding cake in the window display. Beula, Lois, Nancy, Ruth, Faith, and Purl all peer through the glass and watch Gertrude and Muriel flip through a bridal catalogue...
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Teddy hears all about the wedding plans from Purl in the bar. He hears that Tilly is making the dress and that the fabric...
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Chapter 14
...a dress for Tilly to mend. While Tilly and Lois discuss the worn, shabby dress, Purl barges in and asks if Tilly can make her a new lingerie set. Tilly says...
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After Lois and Purl have gone, Tilly hits golf balls from the top of the Hill down toward the...
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Chapter 15
In the pub, Septimus Crescent and Hamish O’Brien sit at the bar. Purl sits behind the bar and paints her fingernails while Fred, Scotty, and Bobby get ready...
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Chapter 17
In the bar, Purl waits to take the new guest’s dinner order. The woman looks dubiously at the menu...
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Chapter 22
...put a mannequin in the room with one of her creations draped on it, and Purl arrives and asks if Una made this outfit when she was in college.
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Chapter 23
In the bar, Purl pours drinks and listens to a drunken William tearfully exclaim that he is not really...
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Chapter 30
...and bitten off all her nails. The next day, cast gather for the dress rehearsal. Purl, William, and Lesley struggle on stage, wearing their ornate 17-century costumes. Gertrude says that they...
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