The Dollhouse: A Novel
Enter the lush world of 1950s New York City, where a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors live side by side in the glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women while attempting to claw their way to fairy-tale success in this debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue.
“Rich both in twists and period detail, this tale of big-city ambition is impossible to put down.”—People
When she arrives at the famed Barbizon Hotel in 1952, secretarial school enrollment in hand, Darby McLaughlin is everything her modeling agency hall mates aren’t: plain, self-conscious, homesick, and utterly convinced she doesn’t belong—a notion the models do nothing to disabuse. Yet when Darby befriends Esme, a Barbizon maid, she’s introduced to an entirely new side of New York City: seedy downtown jazz clubs where the music is as addictive as the heroin that’s used there, the startling sounds of bebop, and even the possibility of romance.
Over half a century later, the Barbizon’s gone condo and most of its long-ago guests are forgotten. But rumors of Darby’s involvement in a deadly skirmish with a hotel maid back in 1952 haunt the halls of the building as surely as the melancholy music that floats from the elderly woman’s rent-controlled apartment. It’s a combination too intoxicating for journalist Rose Lewin, Darby’s upstairs neighbor, to resist—not to mention the perfect distraction from her own imploding personal life. Yet as Rose’s obsession deepens, the ethics of her investigation become increasingly murky, and neither woman will remain unchanged when the shocking truth is finally revealed.
ASIN : B01AHKXIS8
Publisher : Dutton
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : August 23, 2016
Edition : Reprint
Language : English
File size : 2.3 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 306 pages
ISBN-10 : 9781101985007
ISBN-13 : 978-1101985007
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #95,985 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #261 in Historical Mystery #482 in Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction #509 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
Customer Reviews: 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (11,387) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Original price was: $18.00.$9.99Current price is: $9.99.
Enter the lush world of 1950s New York City, where a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors live side by side in the glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women while attempting to claw their way to fairy-tale success in this debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue.
“Rich both in twists and period detail, this tale of big-city ambition is impossible to put down.”—People
When she arrives at the famed Barbizon Hotel in 1952, secretarial school enrollment in hand, Darby McLaughlin is everything her modeling agency hall mates aren’t: plain, self-conscious, homesick, and utterly convinced she doesn’t belong—a notion the models do nothing to disabuse. Yet when Darby befriends Esme, a Barbizon maid, she’s introduced to an entirely new side of New York City: seedy downtown jazz clubs where the music is as addictive as the heroin that’s used there, the startling sounds of bebop, and even the possibility of romance.
Over half a century later, the Barbizon’s gone condo and most of its long-ago guests are forgotten. But rumors of Darby’s involvement in a deadly skirmish with a hotel maid back in 1952 haunt the halls of the building as surely as the melancholy music that floats from the elderly woman’s rent-controlled apartment. It’s a combination too intoxicating for journalist Rose Lewin, Darby’s upstairs neighbor, to resist—not to mention the perfect distraction from her own imploding personal life. Yet as Rose’s obsession deepens, the ethics of her investigation become increasingly murky, and neither woman will remain unchanged when the shocking truth is finally revealed.
ASIN : B01AHKXIS8
Publisher : Dutton
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : August 23, 2016
Edition : Reprint
Language : English
File size : 2.3 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 306 pages
ISBN-10 : 9781101985007
ISBN-13 : 978-1101985007
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #95,985 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #261 in Historical Mystery #482 in Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction #509 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
9 reviews for The Dollhouse: A Novel
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Original price was: $18.00.$9.99Current price is: $9.99.
Don Meindl –
A Dual Time Mystery
This book was most interesting as it told the story of two different women in two different eras both living in the same building – the Barbizon Hotel for Women/ turned condo. The flow back and forth from 1952 to 2016 between each chapter was well written , Each sequence of events in the past and present revealed more clues to the mystery of what happened to the woman in 1952. Was she the mysterious resident living still in the building? I was interested not only in the mystery, but in the history in the book, learning of the life styles of working women of the 1950’s and the hotel in which they lived. It is a real place with many identifiable past residents. I was very satisfied in all respects and enjoyed reading. I think other books by this author use the similar formula of past and present stories alternating to a joined conclusion. Very interesting, informative and fun!
Kindle Customer –
The Barbizon
Set at The Barbizon Hotel for Women in 1952 and Barbizon 63 in 2016, The Dollhouse tells the stories of two of its residents. In 1952, Darby arrives at the Barbizon to study at Katie Gibbs secretarial school. In 2016, journalist Rose Lewin lives in the same building, now condos. The Barbizon, in its heyday, was for women only, complete with curfews and rules designed to shelter the resident unmarried women – Eileen Ford models, Katie Gibbs girls, and others – from the big bad city. Each woman’s story unspoiled as it is told in alternating chapters.Plain, awkward Darby is housed in the floor with all the models, and feels tremendously out of place. She is befriended by Esme, a Puerto Rican maid who works there, and through Esme discovers The city’s jazz club scene, consequently stepping out of her inhibited upbringing, flouting curfew and struggling with her secretarial studies.Rose lives with her boyfriend. A former news anchor, she is now struggling at a web based startup. She discovers that some long-term “Barbizon girls,” now in their 80s, still live on one rent controlled floor and begins to develop a story about them as her personal life implodes. The stories of Darby and Rose intertwine, and both stories explore the roles of women, then and now.The novel is full of period detail, which really brings post-war New York to life. The main characters are well developed and interesting. While some situations and plot twists are improbable, The Dollhouse is a good story, and an interesting exploration of the changes in the city and in the lives and expectations of women between the 1950s and today.
leftyonkey (Baer Books Blog) –
Capivating inside look at NYC
I read this as the second half of my Fiona Davis marathon. I’ve had this book for quite awhile and I was really looking forward to reading it since I heard about it pre-release in 2016. I work as a travel advisor and when I started working in the industry in 1988, I worked for a company that booked hotels for travel agents all over the world. I used to book The Barbizon! It was such fun to read the history of what was once a hotel for women tied in with Fiona Davis, signature two time lines, two narratives. Rose Lewin is living in present day NYC with her boyfriend at his condo at the Barbizon. When he dumps her she finds herself squatting in an apartment on the 4th floor, where all the original residents live in rent-controlled apartments. She ends up dog sitting for Darby McLaughlin’s dog. Darby has a mysterious past and Rose gets sucked into researching a story about the lives of the residents of the Barbizon in the 1950’s for her job as a journalist. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the lives of the Barbizon residents of 1952, Ford Modeling girls and Katherine Gibbs secretarial school girls all living, not necessarily harmoniously at the Barbizon. As usual, the research on the era is evident as we find out about the glamour of uptown and seediness and drugs of the downtown jazz clubs. There’s a bit of mystery and romance to round out the story. I eagerly await the next book from Fiona Davis.
smj –
Predictable and simplistic
I am a big fan of historical fiction because I enjoy learning about a period of history while also being entertained with a compelling narrative. Consequently, I was attracted to The Dollhouse for its purportedly historical content regarding the evolution of the “working woman” and the Katie Gibbs office worker which I find to be such a convoluted capitalistic solution to a problem. However, while there were moments when descriptions of settings, perceptions, and attitudes presented some historical background, for all intents and purposes this novel was primarily a straight-forward romance. While not wanting to reveal too much, I would suggest that as a narrative the story is predictable and at times flawed. For example, the twists and turns of the plot are aided by rather artificial narrative techniques at the end and do not necessarily reflect the personalities or world-views of the characters affected. It is a quick read — a good beach book — but not a particularly useful example of historical fiction.
Angart –
This book set in the Barbizon Hotel in New York, is well written, researched and constructed and the plot moves along at a cracking place. it was fabulous! A pleasure to read. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Miss Schade –
Der erste Roman seit langem, der mich dazu bewogen hat, Menschen um mich herum anzuranzen, wenn sie mich beim Lesen unterbrechen wollten. Es sollte die perfekte Urlaubslektüre werden. Sie war so gut, dass am Ende des Romans noch zu viel Resturlaub vorhanden war.
Prakashini –
A fantastic read and sustained interest until the end. The women in past and present and their struggles and independce portrayed so effortlessly and beautifully.
Miss J. Gray –
I really enjoyed this lovely, intelligent book. Great characters, very atmospheric, engaging, well-paced plot. A thoroughly good read. Can’t wait for her next one!
Diann Hewat –
Fabulous – absolutely captivating – read it in one long sitting as I was fascinated and could not stopReading