The Doll Factory

Critics Review

• A remarkable example of historical fiction . . . full of life, colour and intelligence

  Sunday Times

• Stunningly confident . . . thoroughly engrossing

  Ian Rankin

• One of this year’s best debuts tells the story of Iris, an aspiring artist in 1850s London . . . A clever and gripping read

  The Times

• Fantastic – vivid, poignant, colourful, and elegantly horrifying

  Bridget Collins, author of The Binding

• Macneal is excellent on the tension between idealised women and the reality . . . The Doll Factory is a remarkably strong debut; clever and readable with flashes of wonderful, descriptive prose

  The Times

• Astounding . . . I recommend it wholeheartedly

  Jo Whiley, BBC Radio 2 Book Club

• This brilliant literary thriller gripped me from the opening page . . . a beautifully researched historical novel with a plot to stop your heart

  Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites and The Good People

• This is a dark delight and fans of The Miniaturist and The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock will love it

  Red Magazine

• There is hardly an aspect of Victorian London that Macneal has not mastered in her lush, evocative Gothic, which chronicles a sadistic taxidermist’s sinister obsession with an impoverished young painter . . . a harrowing and bewitching adventure

  The New York Times Book Review

• Vividly rendered . . . captivating . . . engrossing

  Evening Standard

• Bewitching and disturbing by turns, The Doll Factory is a glorious gothic romance

  Laura Purcell, author of The Silent Companions

• I’ve missed subway stops to finish a book, but this is the first time I almost missed a plane . . . a perfect blend of froth and substance . . . a fascinating portrait of a talented young woman trying to negotiate the impossible sexual standards of her era: To acquire the skills she needs, Iris must endure society’s approbation, and to enjoy the romance she craves, she must keep her talent subordinate to her lover’s . . . magical storytelling

  Washington Post

• I loved The Doll Factory from the very first page . . . an exquisite novel of obsession, delusion, resilience and love . . . breathtaking

  AJ Pearce, author of Dear Mrs Bird

• Magnificent . . . features an extraordinary, unforgettable cast of characters . . . you can’t help but be entranced by this uniquely evocative and arresting story . . . the tension ramps up to a breathtaking climax . . . if you love books like The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, Tulip Fever and Perfume then add The Doll Factory to your reading list

  Daily Express

• A deliciously gothic concoction that abounds with energy and imagination, conjuring up 1850s London life in all its Dickensian glory. Macneal marries art, obsession and possession in a plot that gains momentum and leaves the reader breathless

  Daily Mail

• Brilliant . . . refreshingly original . . . beautifully orchestrated . . . fascinating

  Andrew Taylor, No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The American Boy

• Astonishingly good . . . with and a plot that rattles like a speeding carriage to its thrilling conclusion. I couldn’t put it down. You won’t be able to either

  Elizabeth Day, author of The Party

• The summer’s hottest author . . . at once a love story and a thriller . . . Iris is a fierce creation. She chafes against the Victorian constraints on her freedom, carves out her own space in the male art world

  Sunday Times

• Stunning . . . with an unbearably tense and chilling denouement that had me totally gripped

  Sophie Mackintosh, Man Booker Prize longlisted author of The Water Cure

• Elegantly plotted . . . compelling and chilling

  The i

• Exquisitely executed, well-researched and richly evocative . . . a fast-paced, inventive ride through the dirt and squalor of Victorian London

  Mail on Sunday

• Exquisite . . . authentic and suspenseful

  Woman & Home

• Pretty much everything you could want from a book set in Victorian London . . . terrific storytelling . . . Ever since the success of The Essex Serpent, there’s been no shortage of good modern gothic novels. The Doll Factory might just be the best yet

  Reader's Digest

• One of the best books I’ve read in ages – heartbreaking and evocative . . . a perfectly structured and page-turning story of love and passion; crime and obsession . . . wonderful

  Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing Girl

• Remarkably assured and beautifully written . . . truly captivating

  E C Fremantle, author of The Poison Bed

• This dark, enchanting tale is beautifully written. We couldn’t put it down

  Take a Break

• A brilliant literary thriller that you won’t want to put down

  Surrey Life

• [A] gripping historical thriller . . . Macneal paints a masterpiece with her vivid descriptions, and the conclusion will have you racing to the end

  Woman's Weekly

• A vivid depiction of a morally dubious world, and a page-turning psychological thriller, with a truly compelling villain

  Essie Fox, author of The Somnambulist

• Gripping, artfully written . . . part love story, part gothic novel and leading up to a truly breathless conclusion, this book is destined to be one of the biggest titles of 2019

  Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

• Darkly brilliant – The Collector meets Possession with added female power

  Anna Mazzola, author of The Unseeing and The Story Keeper

• Engrossing and atmospheric . . . I can practically see the TV version!

  Adele Geras, author of The Ballet Class

• A sharp, scary, gorgeously evocative tale of love, art and obsession

  Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

• In its evocation of the seething energy of 1850s London, its immersion in the detail of the 19th-century city’s everyday life and in its fascination with the macabre and the eccentric, Elizabeth Macneal’s debut novel does feel genuinely Dickensian. Add a keen exploration of the restrictions that were placed on women and the possessiveness of men, and you get a remarkable example of historical fiction . . . In Macneal’s novel, Iris is condemned to be imprisoned by men’s ideas of her . . . a story full of life, colour and intelligence

  Sunday Times

• The sort of book you want to read curled up by a fire while your fingers twitch to find out what happens next

  Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You

• Macneal has a magpie’s eye for whatever is bright and glittering, and she writes vividly

  Scotsman

• Memorable

  Herald

• Gripping

  India Knight, Sunday Times

• Emotionally and intellectually engaging, Elizabeth Macneal’s debut is a stunner . . . both a page-turning thriller and a thoughtful, moving exploration of what it meant to be a woman and an artist in the 19th century . . . perfectly paced and richly atmospheric . . . deeply moving . . . I literally couldn’t put it down for the final breathtakingly tense 70 pages . . . utterly gripping

  Irish Times

• Artistic and scientific progress are on the march – and yet, in the little alleyways and twittens off the great London streets, poverty, dirt and inconceivable hardship hold back huge numbers of their inhabitants. Albie, a small boy with a single tooth, dreams of hand-made dentures and rescuing his sister from a brothel; Silas, a taxidermist, dreams of showing his work in the Great Exhibition. Every character is painted with intense clarity, so that we look over their shoulders and through their eyes. Brilliant, terrifying, evocative, impossible to stop reading.

  The Tablet

• Brilliant, terrifying, evocative, impossible to stop reading

  The Tablet

• An atmospheric book that will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading

  Independent