~*The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal*~
5 out of 5 stars Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a wonderful Gothic historical fiction that will reel you into this beautiful, chilling world. Set in London 1850, The Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and all of London is excited! Twin sisters Iris and Rose spend much of their time working, They paint and dress expensive China dolls for Mrs. Salter, their laudanum addicted mistress. Life is rather bleak for the sisters but then Iris meets Louis Frost a fantastic painter and she agrees to pose for him in exchange for painting lessons. Iris desperately wants to be a painter but as a woman she is nit taken seriously. She is a pretty girl, an object for men to gaze at. Iris then meets Silas, a taxidermist who becomes obsessed with Iris and will do anything to make her his. As the story goes on and Silas' obsession grows the book becomes darker and darker. Thi...