Sailing in a Sea of Words

Book: The Dollhouse

Author: Fiona Davis

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Mystery

Summary: 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. Yet when Darby befriends Esme, a Barbizon maid, she's introduced to an entirely new side of New York City: seedy 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. More than 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. -Penguin, 2016.

I've read Davis's works before and enjoyed them, but I missed out on reading The Dollhouse when it came out during the Advanced Reader program from Penguin. The Dollhouse is her first novel and it follows the same structure that can be found in her later novels. It splits time between the present and the past at first, but eventually the plots join together in some form.

Darby is a young woman staying at the Barbizon Hotel in 1952. She's attending secretarial school, but feels like a fish out of water coming from Ohio and is thrust into the city on her own. After she makes friends with Esme, she's shown another side of New York City, one that she feels more drawn to in spite of its dangers. Rose is a journalist in the present, doing a story on her mysterious veiled neighbor and the other former residents of the hotel. But as she seeks out the truth, Rose crosses the line, eager to escape her own life as it crumbles around her. The two women's lives become entwined and they affect each other in ways that will stay with them forever.

The story itself was very interesting in a historical aspect. Davis likes to focus on old New York buildings as part of her novels. It's a very specific feature and if you like that, you'll definitely enjoy these books. The Dollhouse is a nice split timeline story. I preferred Darby to Rose, but that's mostly because I didn't find Rose to be very likeable. Darby's plot is your standard 'fish-out-of-water' story while Rose's is the 'finding-yourself-when-all-is-lost' story. It's a pleasant enough read and a good one for the summer. It's not a mind blowing novel in fiction, but it's a nice way to introduce you to New York's history. I certainly learned a lot reading this book.

I give The Dollhouse a B+.

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