She ignores his later invite to visit his shop (“Silas Reed’s Shop of Curiosities Antique and New”) and is unaware that the Great Exhibition ticket that arrives in the post is an anonymous gift from him.īeing oblivious to these “signs” only puts Iris in more danger for she is unable to take steps to protect herself - with far-reaching consequences. Silas Reed’s quiet pursuit of her goes relatively unnoticed.

There are further complications because Iris has no idea that a man she accidentally bumped into at Hyde Park a few weeks earlier has developed a “thing” for her. In exchange for becoming an artist’s model, she will be given art lessons to explore her talent.īut what seems like a no-brainer is fraught with pitfalls, for to do so she will earn the wrath of society (to be an artist’s model at the time was akin to being a whore) and her family will disown her. She has a talent for painting and longs to pursue this, but, of course, conventions of the day generally restrict women from leading lives that are anything other than domestic.Ī chance encounter with a member of the PRB, attracted to her flame-red hair and quiet beauty, offers her a means of escape. Iris dreams of doing something more interesting with her life. The long 12-hour shifts are monotonous and dull. When we first meet independently minded Iris she is working (and living) in a doll factory (hence the book’s title) alongside her twin sister Rose, painting faces onto dozens of porcelain dolls every day. What results is a fast-paced story in which Iris, oblivious to Silas’s increasingly dangerous obsession with her, falls prey to his dark, manipulative ways… Painterly ambition

Silas becomes obsessed with Iris and her deformity - a collarbone that is twisted out of shape so that she has a slight stoop to her left side - and makes plans to befriend her, whether she likes it or not. It’s set in London during the Great Exhibition and the era of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), a loose association of English painters who rebelled against the art standards of the day (read more about them here), and focuses on a young woman called Iris Whittle who is drawn into their circle, first as an artist’s model, but then as a burgeoning painter in her own right.Īlong the way, she attracts the unwanted attention of a taxidermist, Silas Reed, who is constantly in pursuit of the weird and wonderful.

I practically devoured this book on a seven-hour train journey (from Kalgoorlie to Perth) last weekend and have been thinking about it ever since. This debut novel marries historical fiction with elements of the psychological thriller to create a proper page-turner. Fiction – Kindle edition Picador 384 pages 2019.Īrt, freedom and obsession collide in Elizabeth MacNeal’s The Doll Factory.

The doll factory novel