The Dollmaker
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A TOR.COM BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: A fairy-tale-infused love story between two lonely souls—with “distinctly Gothic overtones and a Nabokovian narrator” (Locus).
“The literary equivalent of getting lost in a steampunk-inspired, cutting edge fashion show . . . while you dream of places you’ve never seen.” —Book Riot
Stitch by perfect stitch, Andrew Garvie makes exquisite dolls in the finest antique style. Like him, they are diminutive, but graceful, unique and with surprising depths. Perhaps that’s why he answers the enigmatic personal ad in his collector’s magazine.
Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor, and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped; and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her.
On his journey through the old towns of England he reads the fairy tales of Ewa Chaplin—potent, eldritch stories which, like her lifelike dolls, pluck at the edges of reality and thread their way into his mind. When Andrew and Bramber meet at last, they will have a choice—to remain alone with their painful pasts or break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Allan (The Rift) uses a complex structure for her unsettling novel of two outsiders bonding over doll making. Andrew Garvie, a short-statured maker of antique-style dolls, answers a personal ad, placed in a trade journal, by Bramber Winters. Bramber, a voluntary resident of a mental institution for 20 years, claims to be seeking help in researching the dolls of Polish author and doll maker Ewa Chaplin. Andrew decides to travel from London to the tiny Cornish town of Bodmin on a surprise visit to, in his mind, rescue Bramber. As he travels, he reflects on his life and reads the stories of Chaplin. These dark modern fairy tales (included in full inside the book) of scheming dwarves, changelings, and disturbing children bear striking, troubling resemblance to Andrew's own life. In between the stories, Andrew's visits to small towns en route to Bodmin, and his revelations of his own painful past of isolation and sexual maltreatment, readers see Bramber's earlier letters, which slowly recount the trauma that led to her retreat from society. Shortly before arriving, Andrew makes an impulsive choice that ties him closer to the eerie elements from Chaplin's stories. Allan's characters hide their intense sentiments behind calm exteriors and the overlapping story lines pleasantly delay answers to mysteries. This uncanny novel of longed-for connection is worth the effort.
