Iris and Silas meet when introduced by Albie, a lovable street urchin who collects and sells dead animals to Silas and also sews skirts and dresses for the dolls made at the factory. A lonely man, he daydreams of his lost love, a girl named Flick, who disappeared when the pair were teenagers and left him heartbroken. Silas is a proud man who knows he’s destined for greatness and deserves greater respect than he is afforded. He is fascinated by the deformed beauty in the world and makes up histories for the animals he works on. Our other main character is Silas, who owns Silas Reed’s Shop of Curiosities Antique and New. They work 12 to 20 hours a day with little rest and Iris dreams is escaping her life and painting like a true artist. We later learn this girl is Iris, who works at the Doll Factory painting the porcelain heads and limbs of the custom-made orders, while her twin sister, Rose, sews the details onto their clothing. We start with a mysterious girl who spends her nights secretly painting by candlelight, trying not to wake her sister or mistress. This cast that often seem to have nothing in common are all connected by their struggle to survive and find meaning and magic in the everyday aspects of life. It hosts a variety of characters: twin sisters who make dolls for their overbearing mistress, a lonely taxidermist with a sinister side, a loveable street urchin, painters, prostitutes and more. This magnificent debut novel is set in the world of Pre-Raphaelite art in Victorian London. But Silas has only thought of one thing since their meeting, and his obsession is darkening…… Suddenly her world begins to expand, to become a place of art and love. When Iris is asked to model for a Pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. For Iris, an aspiring artist, it is an encounter of a moment – forgotten seconds later, but for Silas, a collector entranced by the strange and beautiful, that meeting marks a new beginning. The Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and among the crowd watching the spectacle two people meet. The Doll Factory, the debut novel by Elizabeth Macneal, is an intoxicating story of art, obsession and possession.
“Picador’s most spectacular debut for 2019” Thank you to Picador Books, NetGalley and Elizabeth Macneal for the chance to read and review this novel.
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