Why a Booktrail?
1850: A young woman aspires to be an artist but a man’s obsession may destroy her world for ever
The Doll Factory
What you need to know before your trail
The Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and among the crowd watching the spectacle two people meet. For Iris, an aspiring artist, it is the encounter of a moment – forgotten seconds later, but for Silas, a collector entranced by the strange and beautiful, that meeting marks a new beginning.
When Iris is asked to model for pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly her world begins to expand, to become a place of art and love.
But Silas has only thought of one thing since their meeting, and his obsession is darkening . . .
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style to London via The Doll Factory
This is Victorian-era London where the humdrum life is the best you can hope for.
The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition (also called the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held) was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851. This is the focus of the novel and is where the story starts. You can’t imagine the excitement and importance of this event at the time – Charles Darwin, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll were just some of the famous people to attend.
Mrs Salter’s Doll Emporium
Iris dreams of escaping hers as although she works in Mrs Salter’s Doll Emporium, her true passion is painting.
The pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Louis Frost is a fictional member of the very real pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painting collective who asks Iris to model for him
Silas Reed’s Shop of Curiosities Antique and New.
Silas is an eccentric collector of curiosities with a dream to build his own museum to house his strange artefacts. At the moment, he provides taxidermy service of animals to the medical profession but craves more and starts to collect more too. The shop is located in Covent Garden and given the gothic feel of this part of London, its heritage and its cobbled square, it’s the perfect place for strange goings on. He is fascinated by the deformed beauty he sees in the world and makes up stories about the creatures he works on.
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BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Doll Factory
Destination: London Author/guide: Elisabeth Macneal Departure: 1850s
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