This is such a beautiful book embracing those who are different and because of these difficulties have the challenge of finding their place in society. It's beautifully written and draws us into the fears and secrets of Andrew and Bramber who begin communicating through letter writing. Their connection is based on their knowledge and love of dolls but grows into a caring, relationship beyond that bond. The story culminates in Andrew pushing himself into taking an uncharacteristically brave journey and their rescuing of each other, both literally and metaphorically, It's an enchanting and engrossing story with many layers.

This book is completely out of my comfort zone and usually I would not have chosen it but I’m so glad I did.
It is strange and very unusual novel yet intriguing all rolled into one.
It is really based around a simple love story. There is an element of creepiness within it which I think adds to the books makeup.
There are short stories within it which adds substance and depth to it.
Discovering a different genre and getting out of your usual reading choices is a must an highly recommended as you don’t know what gems are out there.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Quercus Books for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

I hear the words ‘dark fairytale’ shared around quite a bit, for everything from re-imaginings of princess stories to books from the evil queens point of view. And that’s fine. But if you want a real dark fairytale, this is it. This book is complicated and you need to sit down and give it your real focus to get the best from it. It’s stories within stories and subtle pivotal details that you could easily miss. I found this book incredible and it has lingered in my mind days after I’m finished. Gorgeous.

#The Dollmaker #Netgalley
It’s a beautiful taltented read, with a touch of scary ness in parts, with a twist of a love story,. This book seems to have a bit of everything in it for everyone, it’s a very very cleverly written book. The dolls that are made sound absolutely exquisite. Actually like the writing itself is captivating. What a brilliant writer. It’s quite often the writing can either make or break a book, This was most definitely a excellent written book with a story full of twists and turns, pretty awesome book definitely worth reading and highly recommend.

This is an early review - full review will follow closer to publication, in accordance with the publisher's wishes.

I really enjoyed Allan's last two books, The Rift and The Race, and I was eager to read The Dollmaker. Those books were twisty, substantial ostensible science fiction/ fantasy which invited the reader to wonder if what were - on the surface - fantastical stories should simply be taken as such, or whether the weird turns, contradictions and coincidences were (or also were) indicative of ruptured relationships and individuals' breakdowns. The answer wasn't clear, and that, perhaps, was one of the most satisfying things about them.

The Dollmaker presents, I think, a similar choice. No spoilers though - the magic WILL unfold, I promise!

Here are fairy stories entwined with real lives. (But which is which?) A quest to free a 'princess' - but is she?

I saw echoes of The Remains of the Day, fused with tales of obsession and strangeness.

It's a dense novel (in a good way!) which had me flicking backwards and forwards in my Kindle checking for repetitions, echoes, foreshadowings, for loose strands suddenly appearing in a different context and resolutions to things that seemed to stop midway.

An excellent book, one I enjoyed a lot and would strongly recommend.

There are no two ways about it. This is a real marmite book. Readers are either going to love it or hate but I doubt there will be many in between.

Andrew and Bramber are penpals. Neither are children but adults who share a love of dolls. I don’t mean dolls for children such as Barbie but collectable, antique and handmade dolls. Andrew lives in London and is a dollmaker. Bramber lives on Bodmin Moor in an unusual surrounding. Andrew sets off on a journey to visit Bramber. Whilst on his journey he reads from a collection of short stories by Ewa Chaplin who was also a dollmaker.

I love quirky books & this is definitely a quirky book. There is the main story of Bramber and Andrew’s penpal relationship. As the book progresses we learn about them and their relationship. A lot of this is in the form of letters. There are also insights into their pasts and their day to day lives. Then there are the short stories which are slotted into the book. These are unusual and quite creepy stories. I will leave you to discover how they fit in with Bramber and Andrew’s story. Although the book is complex with several time scales I had no problem at all in keeping everything in its place.

This is a very well written book with beautifully descriptive vocabulary. The style of the main story is very different from the style of the Ewa Chaplin short stories so there was no confusion. The book is full of fascinating characters – not just Andrew and Bramber who are interesting in themselves but also Bramber’s friends where she lives and Andrew’s friend Clarence. The supporting cast in the flashbacks are also interesting and complete characters even though they exist for only a few pages.

I really enjoyed this book. Its quirkiness reminded me of “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern or “The Toymakers” by Robert Dinsdale though the subject matter is quite different. I think this would make an ideal bookgroup read as there are going to be some very strong views about it!

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

This book was different from anything else I have read. It includes mini stories within it, at first I thought the book had a printing error!! The storey is a love storey over distance. I would love to have read more about the actual doll making. I think this will be a book that is either loved or hated. For me it was ok.

Thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me with an Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a wonderfully strange and unusual novel.

Ostensibly this novel is about a dollmaker called Andrew and his pen pal Bamber. Andrew is on a cross country journey to meet with her after many years of correspondence. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong. So very wrong.

This is really a series of stories within a story. Bamber, a woman of indeterminate age is researching a Polish Writer and Dollmaker named Ewa Chaplin. Some of Ewa’s short stories are interspersed in the narrative as well as Bamber’s letters to Andrew.

It’s really difficult to talk too much about the plot of this novel without spoiling its myriad twists and turns. Its mysteries unfold slowly, and there were times I was reading that I found myself wondering if I had missed something e.g. Andrew will mention someone by their first name, as if we were supposed to know them, and I wouldn’t remember if the character had been introduced yet (they hadn’t). This is absolutely a deliberate choice by the author but more than once I felt completely confused and with that in mind, it’s perhaps not a book for people who dislike ambiguity or red herrings. I was over halfway through before I really started to ‘get’ it.

The real strength of the novel for me was Ewa’s short stories, a series of unnerving, dark and downright bizarre stories. ‘The Elephant Girl’ in particular made for really twisted and disturbing reading. Even now I'm trying to remember which were excerpts from Ewa’s writings and which were accounts of Bamber or Andrew’s pasts. I also enjoyed Andrew’s accounts of his quest to find Bramber and the descriptions of the humdrum towns he visits along the way. I also quite like dolls even though I know they are quite creepy to some, an uncanniness the author uses to great effect in the novel.

I didn’t dislike anything in the novel as such, but I did find it a frustrating read at times. It’s a clever and tricksy book and quite unlike anything I've read before. It’s the kind of book that if someone asked you describe it, you’d probably struggle to make much, if any, sense.

If you like novels different from the norm, I'd highly recommend this book. I feel like I want to read it again now that I've read the whole thing to pick up on some of the parallels and little clues from the beginning. I don’t usually read books more than once unless I absolutely adore them (Wuthering Heights and M.R. James’ Ghost Stories are really the only ones that fall into this camp) so that’s saying a lot.

This book was quite frankly bizarre but I thoroughly enjoyed it all the same. Ultimately a love story between two troubled, eccentric characters—it follows their unusual courtship. The narrative is interspersed with short stories that at first through me but I ended up enjoying immensely.
If you enjoy something a bit different from the norm I’d really recommend you give it a try. I will definitely read Nina Allan again.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

"A great deal has been written on dolls. There are volumes on the history of dolls, the provenance of dolls, the value of dolls, heavy catalogues filled with lavish illustrations, images that quicken the blood and stimulate desire. I have read that the doll is a surrogate: for friendship or for family, for love. Most children grow out of dolls eventually, but not the collector. The true collector, like the poet or the idiot, remains prey to the intensified sensibilities of childhood until the day they die."

It's true literary fiction and will likely be in for a chance to win multiple awards. I loved it! The writing, the prose itself, is absolutely stunning and totally up my alley. It's creepy, unique and slightly whimsical, It had all the traits to be a great book and for me it truly was.

I loved the elusiveness of the characters. Was Andrew unhinged, or just someone who focused all his admiration and attention on dolls (and people who liked them)? If he was mentally damaged in some way, was it surprising, given his past? I like that the author didn't just feed the answers here - she left it up to the reader to decide.

I really couldn't get in to The Dollmaker by Nina Allen. Unfortunately I didn't finish the book. I didn't like the way the book swapped between the story of the the dollmaker and the short stories.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book... it was a bit weird,a bit creepy. Cleverly done.
The transition between story,letters and story within story was done really well...
Then I think I read one of the Chaplin stories that I just didn't enjoy and from there,I never really got back into it.
I still don't fully understand what the house/hospital Bramber lived in was,or how it worked.
Tied together nicely at the end,and engaging enough.

This book didn't do it for me personally, it's well written and I would not discourage others from reading it as many people will enjoy it I'm sure.

A fantastic, well-written read. Unnerving and atmospheric. I couldn’t put it down - would definitely recommend.

This is a book that I didnt really get. It's true literary fiction, and sure to win awards - the writing, the prose itself, is absolutely top notch. But for me, personally, I floundered in this tale (within a tale), and hoped for some kind of resolution that gave a decisive (and hopefully happy) ending. Instead, I was left with deflation that I didn't really understand. Perhaps it's just a nuance that I missed.
I don't want to disparage the actual book though, as I feel its a personal failing rather than one of the author. Recommended, because even though I only half enjoyed it, I feel the wide-ranging reader will get something out of it.

"A great deal has been written on dolls. There are voluimes on the history of dolls, the provenance of dolls, the value of dolls, heavy catalogues filled with lavish illustrations, images that quicken the blood and stimulate desire. I have read that the doll is a surrogate: for friendship or for family, for love. Most children grow out of dolls eventually, but not the collector. The true collector, like the poet or the idiot, remains prey to the intensified sensibilities of childhood until the day they die."

Allan's plot revolves around Andrew's finding solace in his dolls and is set in an atmospheric, whimsical and almost terrifying, setting. Although the ending is definitely rewarding and the story unique, the plot could be better and tighter.

There are some books which linger in your subconscious and make you look at any doll you ever see again in a new light. this is one creepy read. Very atmospheric as it transports you to Bodmin Moor and the lonely raw moors but it's mostly set in a place where dolls are made, where body parts hang from the walls and where a lonely girl awaits her fate.

It's very whimsical and atmospheric. Andrew is the character we meet at the start as he navigates his way through wanting to be with dolls despite being a boy. He struggles with life and his emotions and finds comfort of sorts in his dolls. Answering a personal ad in the doll magazine, that's how he comes to know Bramber and how the story of her imprisonment comes to the fore.

It's a slow burn read but one that builds to create a story that you look back on to fully appreciate the full picture. I enjoyed the themes of loneliness and social entrapment but I was never fully sure I understood what the book was trying to say. It's a evocative and immersive read but the dolls started to freak me out a little and I was unsure I was grasping all of the nuances and what they represented. It could be me overthinking things too of course.

Bodmin Moor and the setting as a whole works particularly well for this kind of creepy read. Dolls, dark fairytales and the mooreland mist skirting the edge of everything you see and believe.