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Book: Deadly Dolls: Midnight Tales of Uncanny Playthings
Year: 2024
Compiled by: Elizabeth Dearnley
ISBN: 0712368426
ISBN13: 9780712368421
Synopsis: mannequins, automata, effigies and dummies, dolls have haunted our imagination since ancient times, invoked throughout the years in literature and film as quintessential symbols of the uncanny.
In this collection of fourteen tales harking from 1817 to 2022, Elizabeth Dearnley presents a sinister troupe of unsettling playthings from the minds of E. T. A. Hoffmann, Daphne du Maurier, Angela Carter, Agatha Christie, Robert Aickman, Camilla Grudova and more.
This includes tales of possessed puppets, artificial suitors and figures that blur the lines between human and doll, fresh nightmares await when the doors of the dolls’ house swing open and its denizens come out to play.
Since we are dealing with so many stories, I’ll just do a general overview of my thoughts. There were tales here that just sucked me in to see where it would take me. It is broken into six sections. Those are Dancing Dolls, Troublesome Toys, Doll Lovers, Possessing Puppets, Fashion Dolls and Dolls’ Houses. It is impressive to not only compile these many stories ranging over these years, but then to be able to separate them into groupings like this is something I wanted to give credit to Dearnley for doing. I can’t even imagine the number of stories that didn’t make this anthology.
It is also great to be able to read from writers I’ve known about over the years like du Maurier and Christie, having seen movies that are adapted from their work. Something else that stood out to me was The Doll by Vernon Lee. This does seem to be a loose concept used for the puppet film, Magic, if that one leaned more into the supernatural. That was a stand out for sure.
That’s not to say that all worked as well for me. Writing style can be an issue for me to get into it, especially if my attention is wandering in the slightest. That’s not something I want to hold against authors though as that isn’t their fault. There were ones here that like I’ve seen, I got lost in and had to see where things would end. Regardless, not one story doesn’t fit in here. I also like that there are couples that are using ideas in different ways than I would expect. Credit there.
This is an anthology that I would recommend checking out, especially if the subject matter is something that needs under your skin. I’m seeing that this is slated to be published on June 10th, 2025, if you are interested in seeking this out.
My Rating: 7 out of 10