The Dollmaker by Nina Allan
The Dollmaker is s book that I have struggled to write a review for, on the one hand this is a complex story with beautiful writing that contains a series of fascinating smaller stories within, on the other hand it didn’t really work out well for me. I confess I have a strange fascination for books and films with dolls – probably because they scare me a little – and we all like a good scaring every now and again – well I do anyway. I think that this probably gave me unreasonable expectations of what this story would eventually become and that is totally my own fault – check out the synopsis below which is a very apt description and in no way whatsoever misleading. Basically, I led myself down the garden path with this one and so, to be absolutely clear, this is definitely a case of ‘it’s me not you’. If this sounds like your cup of tea then please don’t be put off by the fact that this wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be.
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 break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.
A love story of two very real, unusual people, The Dollmaker is also a novel rich with wonders: Andrew’s quest and Bramber’s letters unspool around the dark fables that give our familiar world an uncanny edge. It is this touch of magic that, like the blink of a doll’s eyes, tricks our own.
This is a story of two people (Andrew and Bamber), both struggling a little, both lonely, who find each other through a personal ad in a magazine and become close following the exchange of many letters. Both are collectors of dolls and this shared interest creates a bond between the two. This is a story of self discovery for both.
Firstly, the things I really enjoyed about this book.
The writing is gorgeous. It’s evocative, it’s clever, it’s impressive. I loved that parts of the story were told through letters, I love this way of telling a tale.
The setting. Cornwall, I love Cornwall and have spent a lot of time there and so the settings were so interesting for me to read about.
The short stories within the main body. These were great – and very unexpected for me as I don’t make a secret of the fact that short stories are not really my thing so the fact that I couldn’t wait for the next one was something of a revelation. The short stories themselves are a collection of dark fairy tales written by a famous dollmaker, each of them seems to resonate personally and in fact share strange parallels with Andrew as he makes his way across Cornwall on his mission to rescue Bamber. I loved these stories and could easily have read more.
So, why didn’t this quite work out for me. I haven’t got any real criticisms as such. I think this is a strange combination of unrealistic expectations coupled with a story arc that ambled just a little too much for my own liking. I think the latter third of the book picked up the pace but reaching that point felt like it took quite a while and by that point my interest had waned.
I certainly don’t want to put anybody else off. This is a beautiful piece of work that unfortunately, and maybe it’s a mood thing, didn’t quite work out for me.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
Weekly Wrap Up : 24/03/19
Another week flies by and March is rushing past in a hurry. I didn’t have much time for reading this week unfortunately but I did manage to read Holy Sister – which was an excellent conclusion to the series and I’m almost half way into Aching God. So here’s my weekly wrap up:
My books:
- Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence
Next week’s reads:
- Aching God (Iconoclasts #1) by Mike Shel
- The Sword and the Dagger by Robert Cochran
- Sowing (The Purification Era #1) by Angie Grigaliunas
- Aching God by Mike Shel
Upcoming reviews:
- The Dollmaker by Nina Allan
- Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence
I’d love to know what you’re reading this week.
#SPFBO Author, Cover Share: The City Screams by Phil Williams (An Ordshaw novella)
23 March 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Blue Angel, Cover Share, Phil Williams, The City Screams, Under Ordshaw
Today I’m really pleased to share with you the cover for a forthcoming novella written by Phil Williams. The City Screams is a standalone novella set within the Urban Fantasy world that I first read of in Under Ordshaw. You can find out more about the book below but first here’s the cover:
Tova’s getting her hearing back. She’s going to wish she wasn’t.
Alone in Tokyo for experimental ear surgery, Tova Nokes is finally shaking up her life. But when she starts to hear things she shouldn’t, all she wants is to make it home alive.
There’s a voice saying it’s where she comes from that makes her special.
If she can only survive violent stalkers, and the terrible screams, she might figure out why…
The City Screams is a stand-alone thriller in the Ordshaw urban fantasy series.
This sounds great and it’s due for release on 9th April.
Goodreads link provided here.
And, here are the first two books in Phil’s UF series and my review for Under Ordshaw:
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
22 March 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Sara Collins, The Confessions of Frannie Langton
The Confessions of Frannie Langton was an impressive debut and an intriguing read. Ultimately it’s the rather sad story of one young woman’s life. Born into slavery, Frannie Langton spent her first few years on a Jamaican sugar plantation, ironically called Paradise, before being taken by her master to London and given away as a house servant.
I enjoyed this read, it was certainly told in a compelling way and in spite of a few issues I think it was an impressive debut.
Frannie is in prison. She’s accused of the murder of her former employers and due to stand trial. With very little hope of being found innocent she decides to write down her own story. She takes us back to her earliest memories on the plantation and slowly but surely gives us her account of the events that led up to the murders. What makes this account so intriguing is that Frannie is well spoken and can read and write. She was an experiment of sorts, her master at the plantation wishing to see how far he could take her education. Her sharp mind and ability to learn land her in difficulties, she becomes invaluable to her master as a scribe, taking down notes of his experiments which unfortunately are of a very grim nature. One thing leads to another and Frannie is taken to London and left as a servant in the Benham household.
I would say that this story has two aspects to it. There’s the mystery of the murder and events leading up to it and there’s the mystery of Frannie’s past and the links between her former master and her new employer Benham and the hideous experiments they undertook together. Personally, I felt like this story would have worked better if it had focused more on Frannie and the murder mystery. For me, the experimentation side of the story felt like it was added in to create a sensation or maybe to come up with new territory but I didn’t really feel like it added anything to the murder/mystery aspect of the story and in a way the mystery behind the experiments and the build up to the revelation felt like it stole some of the thunder from the events that led up to the murders.
What I really enjoyed about this was the writing and the ease in which the author depicts life, either at the plantation or in the Georgian home that Frannie is taken to. Frannie has a lovely narrative voice and is very easy to read. She’s maybe not always her own best friend, she certainly doesn’t make friends easily but I can’t really fault her for sticking up for herself even if others think her headstrong.
This is at heart a sad tale. Things were never really going to work out well for Frannie. She becomes addicted not only to laudanum but also to the love of her new mistress. Marguerite is trapped in an unhappy marriage. In a way she’s almost like a slave (although a very pampered, indolent and privileged one). She practically lives in one room of the house, brought out as little more than decoration when it suits her husband. To be honest I didn’t really like Marguerite. Of course I felt sorry for her in a loveless marriage, she was trapped to an extent but I also felt like she also played with the lives of others with little regard for their welfare.
Frannie meanwhile has become something of an Eliza Doolittle. With her well spoken manner and ability to read and write she’s definitely out of place. She doesn’t fit in with the downstairs staff and she doesn’t fit in with the upstairs quality. She quite literally becomes besotted with Marguerite which eventually leads to petty jealousies and a rift that sees her banished from the household.
I won’t elaborate on the story. There’s a mystery to be uncovered here that is best discovered whilst reading.
Overall, I thought this was a good read. I think the pacing was a little slow in the first half but it wasn’t something that really bothered me too much as I was enjoying Frannie’s account. Personally, I think there’s a little too much going on in terms of the two different storylines but I enjoyed this even if, as I mentioned above, it’s a sad tale.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
Friday Face Off : ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’
22 March 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books by Proxy, Friday Face off, JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings #3, The Return of the King
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’ – A cover featuring a king
Mmm, I didn’t have an easy week with this theme. I considered using a book with ‘King’ in the title which would have increased my book choices but then decided to go with a trusty favourite. The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings #3) by J.R.R. Tolkien. As you may imagine there are a lot of covers for this book – a lot – I’ve restricted myself to just a very small selection:
The covers:
My favourite this week is:
This is a lovely special collector’s edition cover produced by Harper Collins.
Which one is your favourite?
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so we can all visit and check out each others covers. Thanks
I’ve updated the list and included themes through to the end of 2019 – I’ve also included events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share that let me know in the comments). I also have a list prepared for 2020 and so will set up a separate page soon for forthcoming themes. As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment.
Next week – A cover featuring a unicorn
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
2019
29th March – “I thought unicorns were more . . . Fluffy.” – A cover featuring a unicorn
5th April – ‘nomad is an island’ – A cover featuring a desert landscape
12th April – ‘Odin, Odin, send the wind to turn the tide – A cover featuring a longboat
19th April – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – A cover featuring a school
26th April “The sunrise was the colour of bad blood” – A cover featuring a sunrise/sunset
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
3rd May – “How sweet to be a cloud, floating in the blue” – A cover that is predominantly blue
10th May – “As full of spirit as the month of May” – A cover featuring a festival/party/celebration
17th May – “The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow!” – A cover featuring a fantasy beast
24th May – “bibbity, bobbity, boo” – A cover that features ‘magical things’
31st May – “simples” – A favourite fantasy cover
7th June – “One swallow does not make a summer” – A cover that makes you think of Summer
14th June – “Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly.” – A cover featuring something sweet
21st June – Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year – Pagan rituals/standing stones/blazing suns – a cover with your own interpretation
28th June – “And who decided which people wore the striped pyjamas” – A cover that is striped
5th July – “The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe… has been answered” – a cover featuring something/somebody historic
12th July – A wrap around cover
19th July – “You can’t choose between life and death when we’re dealing with what is in between.” – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
26th July – “Ludo ….. down” – A cover that is Upside Down
2nd August – “There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.” A cover featuring children
9th August – “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” – A cover featuring Pirates
16th August – “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagles own plumes” – a cover featuring feathers
23rd August – A cover that is a movie tie in
30th August – “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – a cover that is predominantly yellow
6th September “Warm September brings the fruit” – a cover that is seasonal for Autumn/Fall
13th September – Friday the 13th – unlucky for some! A cover with ‘curse’ in the title
20th September – “Your hair is winter fire,January embers.” – A cover featuring hair
27th September – Freebie
4th October – “Feed me Seymour” – A cover that is 60s horror
11th October – ““And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.” – a cover featuring an Inn
18th October – “It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.” – A cover featuring a scream
25th October – for Halloween – pick any scary cover you like
(I’m hoping that November will once again bring to us SciFiMonth – Twitter @SciFiMonth)
1st November – A cover that is predominantly grey
8th November – “big badda boom” – a cover that features an explosion
15th November – “No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” – a cover featuring a robot
22nd November – A cover that is Futuristic
29th November – “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” – a cover that is 60s sci fi
6th December – Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York” – a cover that puts you in mind of winter
13th December – A cover that features a temple/or religious icon
20th December – Longest Night – a dark and foreboding cover
27th December – the festive season – a cover that is glittery or sparkling
(2020 – January is Vintage SciFi month so I’ll be including possible themes to take that on board.)
Books and travelling with Lynn 