Nina Allan
The Dollmaker: A Novel
978-1-59051-993-6 l $16.99/$22.99C l Other Press l TR e 978-1-59051-994-3
READERS’ ADVISORY: Fans of literary gothic fiction like Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend, Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
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love story of two very real, unusual people, and a novel rich with wonders that shines a radically different light on society’s marginal figures.
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. On his journey through the old towns of England he reads the fairytales 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.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. The Dollmaker is, in part, a tale about the craft of dollmaking, but also of storytelling. What kinds of dollmaking and storytelling are on display in the novel? What do these two crafts have in common? In what ways do they differ?
2. Bramber’s letters to Andrew are heartfelt, but enigmatic. Are we as readers, from the beginning, meant to question Bramber’s narrative? Is Bramber a reliable storyteller?
3. Would you interpret or decipher Bramber’s letters in the same way that Andrew does? What do you think about his interpretation of them, and the action he takes in response to them?
4. Andrew’s first-person perspective is the driving ‘truth’ of the narrative. Is he a reliable storyteller?
5. How do the stories by Eva Chaplin enhance, complicate, or undo—or all of these— the story of Andrew and Bramber?
For more discussion questions visit: TinyUrl.com/TheDollmaker w w w.Pe n gu i n Ran dom Hou s e L i b rar y.c om
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