It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper - published by William Morrow 22nd May 2025.
About the Author
A native New Englander, Elise Hooper spent several years writing for television and online news outlets before getting an MA and teaching high-school literature and history.
Her debut novel, The Other Alcott, was a nominee for the 2017 Washington Book Award. More novels—Learning to See, Fast Girls, and Angels of the Pacific—followed, all centered on the lives of extraordinary but overlooked historical women. Hooper now lives in Seattle with her husband and two teenage daughters.
About the book
When a young librarian discovers historic dollhouses in a hidden room, she embarks on an unexpected journey that reveals surprising secrets about the lost miniatures.
Tildy Barrows, Head Curator of a beautiful archival library in San Francisco, is meticulously dedicated to the century’s worth of inventory housed in her beloved Beaux Art building. She loves the calm and order in the shelves of books and walls of art. But Tildy’s life takes an unexpected turn when she, first, learns the library is on the verge of bankruptcy and, second, discovers two exquisite never-before seen dollhouses.
After finding clues hidden within these remarkable miniatures, Tildy sets out to decipher the secret history of the dollhouses, aiming to salvage her cherished library in the process. Her journey introduces her to a world of ambitious and gifted women in Belle Époque Paris, a group of scarred World War I veterans in the English countryside, and Walt Disney’s bustling Burbank studio in the 1950s. As Tildy unravels the mystery, she finds not only inspiring, hidden history, but also a future for herself—and an astonishing familial revelation.
Spanning the course of a century, The Library of Lost Dollhouses is a warm, bright, and captivating story of secrets and love that embraces the importance of illuminating overlooked women.
Review
Imagine stumbling across a secret room full of history and one that inadvertently reveals secrets about your own family history and past. It's not something Tildy expects to come across, but in the end she welcomes the accidental opening of hidden doors.
Behind this particular hidden door are exquisite dollhouses filled with secrets, miniatures and stories. In a way the houses are individual stills of a life lived, a library of a different sort. A visual representation of secrets, a way to speak without saying a word, but right there in plain sight.
At times it felt as if the story was pulling in multiple directions and no real consensus on which direction to take, the result being a lack of connection or perhaps an inability to create one that results in the reader really establishing a concrete link. The miniatures and dollhouses are a fascinating topic, especially when historical links are drawn into the story. The fact history washes out, erases with impunity, the presence and actions of women who contributed to the world we live in, regardless of which skill, action or in what capacity - it's something we need reminding of and of said women.
It's more of a comfortable genre mixing read, it lacks the strong direction and identity to be more than that, which is fine. There is a large demographic for uncomplicated and comfortable.
Buy The Library of Lost Dollhouses at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks - Harper 360, pub date 22 May 2025. Buy at Amazon com.
