|
I listened to The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis, read by Tavia Gilbert.
The "dollhouse" of the title is the Barbizon Hotel for Women, which had been a residence for young women who came to NYC to pursue professional careers. In the present day, it's been turned into apartments, with space set aside for some of the old-timers who'd lived there since they were young women.
The story focuses on Rose, a present-day journalist, and Darby, a secretarial student at the Barbizon in 1952 whose face was slashed in a shocking incident back then; chapters alternate between past and present as Rose researches what happened to Darby.
I was engrossed in this story, particularly the chapters set in 1952, which offered a glimpse of what life was like for young women and the limitations on their lives and choices--and the present-day chapters illustrated that some things hadn't always changed all that much in 60-odd years.
There was nothing specifically objectionable about the narration, but I'm not a fan of Tavia Gilbert--I simply don't much like the sound of her voice.
|