Match Book
The Doll Factory
Elizabeth Macneal
2019 · Historical fiction
How it reads
The Doll Factory is historical fiction (victorian historical psychological fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a big city setting, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are art and creativity, identity and class and society. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something dark
- you want something to chew on
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy, heartwarming or funny
- you need a happy ending
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- historical fiction
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- debut
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- dark
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- art and creativity, identity, class and society
- Ending style
- dark
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
The Feast of All SaintsAnne RiceShares: historical fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
Bone HouseBetsy TobinShares: historical fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
Company of LiarsKaren MaitlandShares: historical fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- Clytemnestra's BindSusan C. WilsonShares: historical fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
The Kitchen HouseKathleen GrissomShares: historical fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- The Daughter of Doctor MoreauSilvia Moreno-GarciaShares: historical fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
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