The Doll Factory: The spellbinding gothic page turner of desire and obsession

The Burial Plot, Elizabeth Macneal’s latest cat-and-mouse thriller, is available now!

Now a major TV series with Paramount+, Sunday Times bestselling The Doll Factory is a gothic suspense story of art, obsession and delusion, set in Victorian London.

‘Astounding … I recommend it wholeheartedly’ – Jo Whiley, BBC Radio 2 Book Club

London. 1850. On a crowded street, the dollmaker Iris Whittle meets the artist Louis Frost. Louis is a painter who is desperate for Iris to be his model. Iris agrees, on the condition that he teaches her to paint.

Dreaming of freedom, Iris throws herself into a new life of art and love, unaware that she has caught the eye of a second man. Silas Reed is a curiosity collector, enchanted by the strange and beautiful. After seeing Iris at the site of the Great Exhibition he finds he cannot forget her.

As Iris’s world expands, Silas’s obsession grows. And it is only a matter of time before they meet again …

‘A sharp, scary tale of love, art and obsession’ – Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick
BBC Radio 4 Book At Bedtime

Five Star Reader Reviews:

‘Breathtaking’
‘I couldn’t put it down’
‘Spellbinding’
‘I never wanted it to end’
‘A plot to stop your heart’