When I can't sleep at night I have a habit of watching nature documentaries. At one point I found a programme that focuses on marsupials and there were two episodes on wombats. After discovering more about these rodent-like burrowers I was absolutely smitten and have become obsessed with watching videos about them ever since. It turns out I'm not alone as the Pre-Raphaelite artists of mid-nineteenth century London were also keen on these curious creatures – as described in this article about Dante Gabriel Rossetti's pet wombats. Elizabeth Macneal sent this to me because she is also a fan of wombats and one prominently features in her wonderfully immersive debut novel “The Doll Factory”. I always enjoy reading riveting Dickensian historical novels and Macneal's excellent book is at the same level as Sarah Waters' “Fingersmith” and Imogen Hermes Gowar's “The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock”, but when I encountered the character of Guinevere the wombat in “The Doll Factory” I fell firmly in love with it.

The novel is immediately captivating as it describes the tale of the Whittle sisters who work in a doll shop where they painstakingly fashion and paint dolls under the watchful gaze of the bullying proprietress. One sister named Iris who has a misshapen clavicle aspires to become an artist and practices her painting in secret. There's also Silas who is a peculiar taxidermist who fashions curiosities out of animal carcases which he sometimes sells to artists to use as models for their painting. Connecting these two characters is a crafty and sensitive ten year old boy named Albie who is saving to buy himself a new set of teeth while also trying to navigate the hard city streets doing odd jobs like procuring material for the doll shop or animal carcases for Silas. Their stories are set against the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and the atmosphere is evoked with such excellent detail so that you feel the chaos, excitement and gritty realness of the city at this time.

Iris becomes involved in a movement of artists (which includes Gabriel Rossetti) during this period who self-consciously identified themselves as the PRB and sought to use intense colours, abundant detail and complex compositions in their artwork. She develops her craft while simultaneously working as a model for a particular artist. Macneal intelligently describes her difficult position as a woman in this period as she is shunned by her family for not sticking to a more traditional role and as a creative individual whose work won't be considered fairly alongside her male contemporaries. The plight of women is also depicted in the lives of different prostitutes (including Albie's sister) who are largely treated as disposable.

Something this novel does so powerfully is capture the psychology of a character so steeped in his misogyny he doesn't recognize the violence he unleashes upon women as a crime. We follow his vile logic imagining scenarios of how he expects women to react to him so that when they act differently in reality he feels entirely justified in the violence he inflicts upon them. This is a chillingly effective technique of narrative which reminds me of the final section of Rachel Kushner's “The Mars Room”. While Macneal vividly captures a sociopath's logic, she describes with equal power Albie's good-hearted viewpoint. Though he may seem abrupt and evasive on the outside he has deep feelings and sympathy for the women closest to him. Something Macneal does so well in creating her characters is show how their words and actions don't always convey how they really feel about the people in their lives. In this way the author creates a lot of dramatic tension because we can see how people's pride and stubbornness can obstruct them from fostering the relationships they really desire.

I was thoroughly engaged and gripped throughout this powerful story which is written with such intelligence. It creatively meditates on the subjects of art and obsession – and if you happen to be a fan of wombats you'll be enthralled by the role one plays in the plot as well as the hilarious ingenuity of a character who writes a poem from the perspective of a remorseful wombat!

Set in the atmosphere of Dickens Victorian England The Doll Factory is a classy novel which is both a thriller as well as a love story.
The love story is on so many levels and includes several of the main characters. Firstly there is the sisterly love of Iris and Rose twin sisters who actually work in the Doll Factory.one of who is deformed and the other pock marked. Then there is Louis an artist who is part of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood who after employing Iris as his model falls in love with her, and finally Silas an odd character who is infatuated with Iris and will go to any lengths to gain her love..
It is also a social history of the times and demonstrates class structure of the time and the struggles of the very poor and also women’s place in society.
It is well researched and describes the building and opening of the Great Exhibition in 1851.
Also being a great fan of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood it was interesting how the likes of Holman
Hunt And Milliais are incorporated into the story..
I loved this book and can’t wait for Elizabeth Macneal,snext book.

The Doll Factory is completely captivating.

We follow three main characters (Iris, Silas and Albie) as they navigate their own personal struggles, and their lives brush up against each other like the kiss of a butterfly’s wings before converging as disastrously and disturbingly as congenitally conjoined puppies.

Iris is living an enclosed life in the shadow of her sister’s disfiguring illness and her parent’s strict moral strictures. She longs for the freedom to be herself and to express herself, creatively and sexually. Silas is trapped by his inability to understand social interactions and his affinity for dead things which make such interactions few and far between. His life is cold, and dark with loneliness… and perhaps something more sinister. Albie is a hard-grafting, enterprising street urchin who simply wants safety and financial security for himself and his sister, and some new teeth. If you need it, he will try his best to get it… unless the cost is his own conscience.

Here freedom and love, joy and creativity live alongside jealousy, loneliness, fear and anger in an intricate pattern of symmetries. The tension builds slowly as the author carefully laces her story tighter and tighter, to the point where the reader may forget to breathe.

But this story is not suitable for those prone to swooning. Skin is bared and bones exposed, but the author also digs unafraid into the guts, rot and excrement which also form part of the human condition. Balanced with the lofty intellectual and creative pursuits of the Great Exhibition and the Pre-Raphaelites’ ambitions, the colours of human life (the light and dark, bright and dull) are painted large and true on this fictional canvas.

Highly recommended for fans of atmospheric, Victorian, Gothic literature, and also fans of well-written suspense that explores the dichotomy of the rational, spiritual, base animal that is humanity.





He sees a child dart forward and snatch a red handkerchief from a lady’s purse. He peers closer, recognizing that scruff of pale hair. The familiarity is a balm, a reminder that he is not alone in this roiling mass of industry. Silas smiles, and calls out, ‘Albie!’
But the boy does not hear him. And then Silas understands: he has been caught. A woman’s hand is on his wrist, the handkerchief a limp flag in his fist, and Silas slips on a piece of turf in his haste to hurry over, readying himself to play Albie’s rescuer, to beg her not to notify the authorities – but then he sees that Albie is laughing.
Silas looks at the woman more closely. She is as tall as a man and has her red hair tidied into a long plait. She is – Flick? Grown up, womanly. But it cannot be. This woman has a slight stoop on her left side.
It is as if a bell has been rung in an old house. Silas has felt the tremor of the wire as it runs deeper into the building, through walls and floors. He stands transfixed, watching as the vibrations set a series of smaller bells ringing.
He could not say what it means.

– Elizabeth Macneal, The Doll Factory

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

This is a classic page turning thriller! I believe that this is her debut book - I can't wait to read more!

Iris and Rose, our twins, one deformed and the other pock marked - petty jealousy, misunderstandings, and unfulfilled dreams....until one of them decides to break out of the factory and become an artist.

Silus - a collector of dead animals, turning them into stuffed animals and skeletons, hoping one day to be recognised for his skills and have his own exhibition, not just at The Great Exhibition which is currently undergoing construction.

The artists....desperate as well for recognition, and to have a good spot at The Great Exhibition

All three stories intertwine with each other, love, jealousy, deception.....a true page turner

If 2018 was the year of the mermaid, with Louise O’Neill’s The Surface Breaks, Kirsty Logan’s The Gloaming, Melissa Broder’s The Pisces, and Imogen Hermes Gowar’s The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, it looks like 2019 might be the year of the doll, with Elizabeth Macneal’s debut, The Doll Factory, following hard on the heels of Nina Allen’s The Dollmaker. However, like The Dollmaker, The Doll Factory uses dolls more figuratively than it does literally. Iris and her sister Rose paint porcelain dolls and sew their clothing for a living, able only to dream of having their own shop some day. However, when Iris catches the attention of an (invented) Pre-Raphaelite artist, Louis Frost, she becomes not only his model but also his pupil. As Iris’s world begins to open out, however, she is also watched by Silas, a resentful taxidermist, who wants to claim her as his own. With its emphasis on how women are treated as beautiful objects, and Iris’s quest for freedom, The Doll Factory recalls Mary de Morgan’s 1877 short story ‘The Toy Princess’, where a spirited princess is replaced by an identical clockwork doll after her people find the real woman too wilful. (This should also forestall any criticism that Macneal’s representation of women is too modern).

While Macneal’s writing is not as distinctive as Hermes Gowar’s in Mermaid or as Sarah Perry’s in The Essex Serpent, the two most obvious comparators for this novel, I found The Doll Factory totally absorbing and surprisingly moving, which puts it head and shoulders above most recent eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century-set historical fiction. There’s an upsetting moment about three-quarters of the way through which knocked me totally off balance; it’s not a twist as such, but I hadn’t expected it, and it reminded me of similar moments in Mermaid and in Francis Spufford’s Golden Hill. And while much of this story treads familiar ground, Macneal somehow manages to bring a sense of hope to it that makes it very refreshing to read. I particularly enjoyed the development of the relationship between the two sisters. While they were close as children, Rose’s teenage disfigurement through smallpox scars has left her jealous of her sister, and has led to their estrangement – or at least, so Iris believes. Rather than focusing on female rivalry, Macneal has the two sisters become sources of strength for each other.

However, although Silas’s obsession with Iris technically forms the key source of tension in The Doll Factory, I could have done without it. I have read too many books about stalking, dangerous men, and Silas himself is pretty two-dimensional, so I found myself dreading the chapters when he would simply rehearse his grievances against the world. There’s possibly a more complex story about class privilege lurking here, but Macneal doesn’t explore it. While this would make The Doll Factory a less traditionally ‘gripping’ novel, I would honestly have preferred to have no Silas – the social obstacles that Iris has to face are large enough on their own. And if this led to more on the art of oil painting, and less on taxidermy, I’d be all for that as well. The Doll Factory kept my attention not because I was afraid for Iris’s safety, but because the strength of Macneal’s story carries itself forward. I hope she has the courage to break further away from familiar plots in her next novel.

Cross-posted to Amazon, Goodreads and my blog.

Exquisite. Simply exquisite historical fiction. Winner of the Caledonia Novel Award 2018 and touted as Picador's most spectacular debut for 2019 it is difficult to explain just how sublime this was, and I am almost lost for words to describe the stunning fragility and intrigue this story brings.

Set in 1850s Victorian London, the period detail is perfect invoking the sight, scents and sounds of this great city; it's clear Ms Macneal has researched the era extensively to bring a rounded authenticity. I was particularly impressed and intrigued by learning more about the sisters who were part of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and much like other women of their time were overlooked.

This feels as far from a debut as you could get, often debuts are where an author finds their feet, but it appears that this master wordsmith found hers long ago. An incredibly accomplished debut and one of those books other writers will strongly wish they had birthed.

The Doll Factory is a startling meditation on the all-consuming nature of obsession and love set against the backdrop of The Great Exhibition and wider London art scene. Also explored are themes of devotion, madness and, of course, art. The tagline: "freedom is a precious thing" and the bell jar featuring various important pieces that form the basis of the story illustrates the powerful nature of love but if treated carelessly that the fine line between love and hate can often be crossed and never returned back from.

The cast of characters deepen with every passing chapter, the tense undercurrent that runs throughout grips from the very beginning and the vivid imagery makes you feel a part of the story rather than an outsider looking in. There are some genuinely chilling, creepy incidents on the slow-building journey to the climax which creates a claustrophobic atmosphere. Towards the last half of the book, the story pace rises and moves closer to a simply heart-pounding crescendo.

I'm finding it really problematic doing The Doll Factory justice with this review and I must say that I rarely have an issue with reviewing. However, I feel floored after finishing this, and despite the number of books I read this one will unmistakably hold a special place in my heart for the way it made me feel throughout.

If you enjoy the period detail of historical fiction, the drama and shocking surprises of a thriller and books such as The Miniaturist and The Mermaid & Mrs Hancock then this will likely charm you as it did me. This, in my opinion, in unmissable. I will patiently await her next dazzling work. Ms Macneal, you have an ardent fan. Many thanks to Picador for an ARC.

Elizabeth Macneal's debut book set in the Victorian era is beautifully creepy and captivating. Dark and deranged obsession that did chill me as I read, hell scared me at times. A unique look at love and horror within a genre I don't usually read, historical gothic, which I REALLY enjoyed. I'm so glad I read this book, it's opened my eyes to so many things.

I found this book very dark and disturbing. I felt obliged to read it as I’d requested and been given an advanced copy to review but I wished I hadn’t asked for it or been able to read a little first before requesting it. The email inviting me to read it said ‘From the publishers of The Miniaturist comes this intoxicating story of art, possession and obsession in Victorian London’. I’m afraid that I was rather lured in by ‘From the publishers of The Miniaturist’ as I loved that book but this one was not at all what I expected. I was also attracted by the beautiful cover showing a glass bell jar with beautiful objects inside such as a peacock feather, flower, butterfly and dormouse with the glass pavilion of the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in the background.

Some of the story is grim with descriptions of taxidermy, gruesome things happening to animals and some stomach-churning descriptions of bodily functions. The plot is good but I found some of the writing too gruesome and I just wanted to get to the end so I could read a more pleasant book.

It is set in 1851 as preparations are underway for the Great Exhibition. Twin sisters, Iris and Rose, are working painting the faces on personalised dolls. They receive photographs on children from the person commissioning the doll so they can paint the face accurately. Sometimes the doll is to commemorate a deceased child so the photo will be taken postmortem. Iris and Rose play the game ‘dead of alive’ when looking at these photos to see if they can work out if the child in the photo is dead or not.

Iris is desperate to paint real art and meets Louis who is part of the up and coming Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) who are making waves in the mid nineteenth century art world. She also briefly meets taxidermist, Silas, who becomes obsessed with Iris as she reminds him of an old friend who disappeared one day. Iris and Louis get closer despite the disapproval of the rest of her family as they are not married and think Iris is being used.. Meanwhile Silas’s obsession with Iris becomes more and more sinister.

It is a good story but I found the gloom and darkness distracted me from appreciating the story. I found the end very rushed and it just stopped very abruptly. I did like the historical side in learning a little about the Great Exhibition and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It's made me want to research more about the latter and learn more.

With thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am sorry I didn't give it a high rating but it's really not to my liking, I do think it's well-written though and is likely to score highly with many people and do well.

I was not sure about this book at first because it was rather confusing, jumping from one character to another and I could not see the connection BUT as the book continued it became clearer. The descriptions of Victorian England were evocative and how Silas prepared his stuffed animals really painted a clear picture!! Silas is very creepy and obsessive; most of the other characters are very selfish and self-serving; I really only liked poor Albie who had nothing but was the kindest, most honest and generous character.
A very interesting novel, all the more fascinating because it was set round the preparation and opening of The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Elizabeth Macneal/Pan Macmillan for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I do love me a bit of historical fiction every so often, especially when it weaves in fact throughout the narrative as this one does. I love that including real people in with the created characters makes me want to know more about them so I did a fair bit of highlighting along the way and googling after I finished.
When we first meet her, Iris is working with her sister Rose painting dolls for Mrs Salter. Rose appears happy with her lot but Iris has aspirations to be an artist but is shunned for these thoughts by her family. Her path crosses that of taxidermist Silas. An encounter that means more to him than it does her and sparks off his unhealthy obsession for Iris. Iris is then saved from her stifled life of drudgery by Pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost who initially just wants to use her as a model for his painting for the Great Exhibition of 1850. But Iris wants more and manages to negotiate some art lessons with a view to producing her own work.
Things tick on for Iris and Frost. But, as they appear to become closer, so Silas's obsession turns darker and their worlds eventually collide with devastating results.
One of the things I love with books that combine fact with fiction is when that enmeshing is seamless, as it was in this book. Obviously it needs to be well researched and, any liberties taken for plot development explained, and here again, that was also well evident.
I'm a big fan of Victorian fiction and here the author has done a great job of both scene and time setting so it felt real all the way through. Maybe, if I'm honest, there was a little too much description for me which made the story drag a little in places. I'm not as au fait with the art movement of the time although I am familiar with the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace so I was easily able to believe in the rest of what I read.
As a character (not a person obviously) I really loved Silas. He was creepy and then some. A great character to get my teeth into and, although he was what he was, I did feel some sympathy for him along the way. I was fascinated by his taxidermy which reminded me of a place I used to visit when I was a child where Walter Potter's stuffed animal dioramas were exhibited (sadly not there anymore). So I had a strong memory link to what he was doing, albeit for a different cause.
My only real issue was that the ultimate ending didn't leave me quite as satisfied as I would have liked. It was a tricky book for me to read in the first place and took me longer than usual so maybe I just wanted more of a reward for my perseverance. It was the right ending and I am not sure what else I would have liked, only that I didn't quite feel fulfilled at the book's conclusion. Maybe it was the mix of historical fiction with a psychological bent that didn't quite gel for me.
It was however quite an emotional book with lots going on for several of the major and indeed minor characters. Albie and his sister being notable examples of this. Anyway, who couldn't love a book with a wombat in it!
All in all, despite not being wholly satisfied, this was a good solid read - and a debut to boot - and I am definitely going to look out for more from this author. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This was a very different kind of book for me but it was recommended so thought I would give it a go. I really loved some aspects of the book and some of characters but there were other aspects of this book I really struggled with and found myself skim reading a lot (a habit I’ve been trying to break!). It held lots of intrigue, suspense, passion, longing.... but also lots of cruelty , gruesomeness, and obsession, which I didn’t get on with so well. I think if you enjoy gritty historical novels and enjoy the art world then I would very much recommend this to you but it wasn’t my one of most favourite reads

This book is set in 1850 around the time of the Great Exhibition. It covers so many genres, historical fiction which is my guilty pleasure. Romance, crime, psychological thriller and so much more. Reading this book I was immediately transported back in time. I was sat with Iris when she was painting her beautiful dolls. I was with her when she crept down the stairs to draw by candlelight which was her passion and obsession. I walked with Silas through the dark looking for more treasures.
This book is beautifully written, well researched and a joy to read. Silas will stay with me long after I have turned the last page. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review

This book had an interesting premise but the specifics and graphic details made it hard for me read the book completely. The characters are pretty well written,but the multiple instances of animal bashing, and the physical trauma of the people in the book put me off.
This might mean that the historical fiction part was very accurate but I found it hard to finish the book. Since I read only half the book I am not going to be rating this book on Goodreads. If I do read it fully at a later time, i will amend this.
This may not be a great book for me but I am sure it will interest true fans of history who can look at the details theoretically

I received an early copy from the publishers and NetGalley in return for my independent honest review. Thank you.
This is a creepy gothic historical tale. The author captures the atmosphere of Victorian times in all its glory. The good,the bad and the ugly. You can imagine yourself there,the sights the sounds,the tastes and smells. It does contain grisly content featuring the work of the taxidermist Silas and this type of content will not be for everyone.
I have given this 3* as I feel that the author has included some beautiful writing otherwise I would have rated it lower for the following reasons:
There was enough plot content for three books and sometimes it was just too much for me. less would have been more effective. It was particularly confusing in the beginning and at sporadic times throughout. The pacing was generally slow, sorry but in my opinion boringly slow. It gathered pace towards the end, however I had already lost interest.
There is a whole cast of characters and although I didn't like Silas he was my favourite. A creepy realistic character that was well crafted.
I certainly think we shall be seeing many more books from this author.

Excellent historical fiction that I think would appeal to fans of The Miniaturist or Burial Rites. I took a while to warm to Iris, but by the end of the book I was really rooting for her! I found Silas fascinating and would have liked to read more about him, as well as Rose and Iris's relationship. I didn't like the sections about Albie but can see how the character would appeal to some. Loved the Gothic atmosphere. An exciting and engrossing read.

Iris and Rose are sisters who work for subsistence at Mrs Salter's doll shop painting dolls to resemble real children, some of whom are dead.

Across the way, Silas runs a curiosity shop specialising in taxidermy, skeletons and other anatomical oddities. He does a trade providing specimens for a group of artists going by the name of The Pre-Raphaelite Brethren.

Through a series of chance encounters - at the heart of which we find Albie, a street urchin who locates samples for Silas - Iris meets one of the painters, the fictitious Louis Frost, and agrees to model for him in return for painting lessons.

Silas, meanwhile, has other designs on Iris...

In part, this is a psychological thriller. We know that something bad will happen to Iris, it is just a question of when. And on the other hand, it is a romance between Louis and Iris.

For me, at least, the balance didn't quite come off. There was way too much romance and painting in the middle and the drama was too little, too late. The novel went into some detail on the theory and production of the pre-raphaelite paintings; spent some time comparing and contrasting the worthy merits of the Royal Academy against the shallow science and innovation of the Great Exhibition. However, painting has never yet made for fascinating fiction despite the best efforts of many authors to prove otherwise.

The Doll Factory does have some merits, however. Silas as the troubled man who has difficulty expressing his emotions and fulfilling his artistic dreams would have been a gem if he had been more fully integrated into the middle of the novel. Albie is fun. The relationship between Rose and Iris wasweld constructed in the brief glimpses of it that we saw. And the theatre of the Victorian London streets was quite visceral. But the pacing was shockingly wrong and did I mention the focus on painting?

The result was a novel that started and ended as a piece of fun, but the saggy middle felt like it would never end.

You know sometimes you pick up a book that isn't necessarily the sort of thing you would read but sounds intriguing. Well this is what happened to me with this book, I find this time in history fascinating and so a book set during the period of the Great Exhibition attracted my interest, add to this the lure of Pre-Raphaelitism and I was conclusively hooked. This author tells a good story and the narrative is richly written. There are many ups and downs with something always going on to pique the readers interest. I would recommend this book and will certainly seek out this author's future work!

#TheDollFactory #NetGalley

I couldn’t get into this but I liked Silas as a character. Interesting concept but not for me. The historical setting was interesting though

This is a very creepy story, full of the atmosphere of the age. London in the 1850's, and the PRB are taking the art world by storm with their interpretation of the realism and colours of life. Two sisters, Iris and Rose, work in a doll factory, painting faces onto China dolls,that are sold to rich children.
Iris has a deformed clavicle, due to a birth injury, and Rose contracted smallpox, that left her beautiful features badly scarred. Both sisters believe their chance of matrimony has passed them by. However, Iris is approached by the artist Louis Frost, who wants her to become his muse and model, a job considered as bad as being a whore, a job that no respectable woman would perform. Iris agrees, on the condition that Louis teaches her to paint. Louis is attracted to Iris, and they fall in love. Rose remains in the Doll factory, bitter and alone, but when Iris attracts the attention of Silas, a taxidermist ,who takes an unhealthy interest in her, and plans to make her a permanent item in his collection, Rose and Louis join forces.
It is a creepy story, showing the harsh conditions of the age. Artists and their wonderful world of colour, contrast sharply with the life of street urchins, prostitutes, and the dire working conditions , despair and hopelessness of working class people. You can almost smell the unwashed bodies, the manure from the horse drawn traffic, the blood that washed down the gutters and the human waste that fouled the streets.
You could make an intelligent guess about some parts of this story, but it was such a compelling read, you would have to read on to the end.
I really enjoyed this book and I can see this being made into a film.

The Doll Factory

I really enjoyed this book. It depicts a dark and visceral Victorian London, with pickpockets and prostitutes but also art, beauty and the burgeoning technology of the Industrial Revolution.

Perhaps a little slow to start, it is necessary to draw out the detail of the characters’ lives before they begin to intersect and entwine throughout the rest of the novel. Hopes and dreams are built and crushed and we see the character of Iris - a woman who yearns to be strong and independent - struggle with the constraints of her society.

Towards the end the novel becomes increasingly tense and dark as the characters begin to show their true colours. The writer makes good use of an unreliable narrator in Silas, who starts as an outsider much like all the other characters - but later goes on to reveal more and more of his past and develop our understanding of his motivations and desires.

All in all, this novel a vibrant and interesting take on the age with interesting touches of The Great Exhibition and the building of Crystal Palace combined with a tense and dramatic crime drama. If either of these descriptions appeal to you, you’ll probably enjoy it!