The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis 368 pages
In
the last month or so, I was lucky enough to snag a copy of author Fiona Davis’s
new book, “The Masterpiece,” and I just loved it. So of course, since that was
only her third novel, I knew that I had to read her first two. This was Davis’
debut novel. It’s as equally mesmerizing.
Davis
employed the dualing timelines as her structure. I’m wondering if this is going
to be a continued pattern for her; I sure hope so, as I love it.
In
1952, Darby arrives from Ohio to attend the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School
in New York City. She plans to never marry and strives for financial and
economic independence from her mother and step-father. She moves into the Barbizon Hotel for Women.
It wasn’t like a hotel that we think of today. She had to have three references
in order to be even considered a place. Unfortunately, there isn’t room for her
on the floor that houses other Gibbs’ girls. Instead, she is forced to live
with aspiring models, who often distract her from her studies.
Darby
becomes friends with the maid, Esme, who introduces her to the seedier side of
New York. She also meets Sam, a cook in a jazz club who yearns to become a
chef, using the spices he discovered in Southeast Asia.
Fast
forward to 2016. The Barbizon Hotel for Women is now condos, except for the
Fourth Floor. That’s where several of the now-elderly women from the Barbizon
still reside. Rose and her divorced lover, Griff, have lived there for about a
year. Thanks to Patrick the doorman, Rose learns about the women and the
building’s history, especially the scandal that caused Esme to fall to her
death from the rooftop terrace. Working for an internet news bureau called
WordMerge, Rose wants to interview the women of the Fourth Floor.
She
begins to knock on doors and finds some women wanting to talk with her; others
who are not interested in bringing up the past. One of those women is Darby.
Yup that Darby. As Rose is forced out of her apartment (Griff goes back to his
wife, supposedly for a teenager’s sake), she becomes more and more obsessed
with Darby and the rumors of her involvement with Esme’s death. It’s just
happenstance that Darby winds up caring for Darby’s dog when the neighbor
suddenly takes ill and is hospitalized.
I
was enthralled with the story; I couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait to get my
hands on Davis’s sophomore book, “The Address.” “The Dollhouse”
receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
