Reviews - The Doll Factory

1.03k reviews for:

The story is a good one and it’s extremely catchy. I wanted to keep reading it.
I enjoyed the whole Victorian gothic setting and the way it was written was amazing. I usually don’t like short chapters, but the way it was used here was perfect and actually helped me get through the book.

It wasn't a bad book, I really did enjoy it, but some things that I wanted was more of Silas' background, it's clear that he at the very least had something to with Flicks death, I do entirely think he killed her.
Also the relationship with Iris' parents don't seem relevant to mention, it doesn't give anything to the story.

I do wish the ending was different, or that there was a second book, because what happens to her now? Is she getting back to her sister? Is getting together with Louis? Does he end up marrying her after all this? Can she get past the trauma? Silas, does he get arrested for the kidnapping and essentially torture? Does Louis end up killing him for it? How is Sylvia?

elliesbookshelf's review against another edition

5.0

medium-paced

motherofladybirds's review

3.0

Victorian gothic. A taxidermist obsession with an artist's model associated with the PRBs. I enjoyed the details of place and time. I got frustrated with the pace and I thought it was a little predictable. I did enjoy that Iris escaped through her own endurance and ingenuity and was not a victim of Silas, or rescued by another man.

carolyn0613's review

4.0

This is a beautifully written book, set in Victorian London. It tells the tale of Iris, a young women stuck in a safe but dead end job painting dolls' faces. She dreams of painting and becoming an artist, well aware that her status as working class and a woman reduce her chances to almost zero. Silas is a strange man who runs a taxidermy business and Albie is a young boy who does errands for them both. Iris's life is turned upside down when she is approached to be a model for Louis Foster, a (fictional) artist of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

The writing recreates the squalour and struggle of ordinary people in Victorian times but also captures the beauty and ideas of the artistic work of the Pre-Rahaelites. I recommend this book highly.