How could I go wrong with a novel about dollhouses, miniatures, and a librarian? Elise Hooper’s The Library of Lost Dollhouses has all those elements, along with an artist to root for. Readers who don’t care for alternating timelines will not be happy with that aspect, though.
Tildy Barrows is the Head Curator at the Belva Curtis LeFarge Library in San Francisco. She knows the library has some financial problems, so when she finds two remarkable dollhouses hidden behind a panel in the library, she’s hopeful they might be useful in saving the library. And, it isn’t long before she realizes one of the houses, a four story building, is a model of the Hotel Le Farge in Paris where Belva Curtis LeFarge once lived. But, who was the artist who built the house? There are secrets hidden in both houses, but one of them shocks Tildy. It’s a miniature picture of Tildy’s own mother.
Tildy’s search for answers and the truth behind the houses takes her into her own past, her mother’s unknown story, and the life of Cora Hale, an artist who we meet in Paris in 1910. As she researches, Tildy realizes there is some connection. Not only is her mother’s picture in the house, but Tildy’s middle name is Cora.
The Library of Lost Dollhouses is a complex story of women, secrets, and art. It’s a story of obsession, for other people, along with Tildy’s obsession about her search for family answers. And, the miniatures! Anyone who loves dollhouses and miniatures will appreciate the detail that goes along with the book, and the story of recuperating soldiers following WWI who learn to reuse their skills. I thought Tildy could have been developed more, but I really enjoyed Cora Hale as a character.
I also found it fascinating that one of Elise Hooper’s inspirations was Frances Glessner Lee who built miniature crime scenes, her Nutshell Libraries, to assist police in solving crimes. If that interests you, too, check out Katie Tietjen’s Death in the Details, a mystery inspired by Lee.
Elise Hooper’s website is https://www.elisehooper.com/
The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper. William Morrow, 2025. ISBN 978006338215 (paperback), 320p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a galley through NetGalley, with no promise of a review.
I entered for it on GoodReads but it is difficult to win the ones your really want!
I’m sure, Carol.
I think you mentioned Death in the Details previously. If so, I had more restraint then. Just downloaded the ebook from the Clark County library.
thanks
Or maybe the subject matter didn’t appeal to you, MM, when you read the review. You never know. And, you don’t know why it might appeal at one time and not another.
Just a note to say we’re home and I added some titles to the May Treasures In My Closet list, in case anyone wants to go back a few days and check.
Oh, I’m going back to look, Jeff. Thank you!
i enjoyed this one too.
Maybe not as much character development as I would like, Kaye, but I liked the story.
Exactly!!
Enjoyed the May additions, Jeff. Thanks!
I just bought this book! I absolutely LOVE miniatures and dollhouses and CAN NOT WAIT to read this ( ;