The Dollhouse: A Novel

This has proven to be one of my favorite books of all time!! I keep re-reading it, give it as gifts to my reader friends and I now have a copy in paperback, hardcover and digital!! I love the short chapters, the attention to detail of the historic NYC building, the past and present perspectives, the mystery with a little twist! I’m going to have to read it again now!

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.

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.

The Dollhouse is set in 2016 in New York City, with a flashback to 1952 and the Barbizon Hotel for Women. In 1952 the Barbizon Hotel for Women – the Dollhouse – is the place to be for aspiring models, artists, editors, and creatives vying for success in the big city. Darby McLaughlin arrived at the Barbizon Hotel looking for a secretarial job. She befriends the maid Esme Castillo, who shows her a good time at the jazz clubs and the seedy side of New York City. There is a skirmish on the roof one night and Esme falls to her death. In 2016 journalist Rose Lewin moves into the building that was once the Babizon Hotel. Miss Darby McLaughlin still lived on the 4th floor, below Rose, and plays the same melancholic tune over and over. She is an enigmatic woman, never showing her scarred face since the roof-top incident, always covering it with a dark veil. Rose hears of the 1952 scandal and seeks to discover the truth – to find out what really happened on the roof 60 years ago. There are other 1952-ers sitll in the building, such as Stella Conover, Doris Spinner, and Alice Wilcox. In parallel with the investigation, the novel is a romance story – although it would’ve been better without it. This is a quick, simple read, and one that can be skimmed without missing much. Perhaps it would have been better focusing on the real history of the Barbizon Hotel.

I had not heard about the Barbizon Hotel before reading The Doll House. The author does a good job giving her readers enough information about the Barbizon Hotel to make one go and go an internet search to read more about the history of this hotel for women. The book started out strong with the development of the character Rose but I would have liked the author to give more of an a finishing touch with the male character Griffith whom she was involved with but then later went into different paths. The main story is about a woman name Rose who believes she has a great story about the Barbizon Hotel and the women who lived there. Rose centers on a woman name Darby who ended up accidentally killing a maid named Esme who worked at the Barbizon Hotel. The story centers around these two women and there time together in 1956 and the author toggles back to 2016 to show the story with Rose, her current and ex Griffith and a man that she is working with on the story about the Barbizon Hotel. Overall, the author does a good job with the story but for my own tastes I would have loved more an ending or dialogue with Rose and Griffith towards the end.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Fabulous - absolutely captivating - read it in one long sitting as I was fascinated and could not stop Reading