The Library of Lost Dollhouses is a wonderful multi-timeline story that centers on a fictitious library/museum in San Francisco, housed in a Beaux Arts Building, the Belva Curtis Lefarge Library. Belva Lefarge founded the library and lived on the top floor after her home burned down. The nickname of the library is, “the Bel.” A Prologue sets the stage for why the dollhouses are important as we find ourselves in the workshop of the artist, an unnamed woman, who designs and constructs them with minute attention to detail and a secret story or information that the owner wants known but not publicized. Each house we learn about in the story has exquisite miniatures and interior architectural features made exactly to scale.
Initially,, we meet Tildy Barrows in 2024. She is one of the two protagonists in the timelines. She’s the curator at the “Bel,” second in line to the Director. She knows they are in serious financial trouble due to the period the Bel was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic and to an issue with an embezzler. The building has some very, very valuable things that might save it, including a masterpiece painting that Belva purchased from the Metropolitan Museum in New York many years ago. but an unexpected repair issue makes it doubtful it will yield enough to save the Bel.
While Tildy is working on the apartment floor with clothing that was in disarray from some impudent children, she discovers a door within the clothes/storage closet that leads to two large dollhouses, one the home Belva lived in while she was married and living in Paris in the early years of her marriage. This covers the period around 1910 when a young woman artist, Cora Hale, age 17, arrives in France, seeking a room at a women’s residence, “Curtis House.” The somewhat fractious manager explains that they are full up and that Cora should have had the room reserved before she arrived in Paris. That was not an option, as Cora considers herself a “ruined” woman in New York and she fled for Paris as an exile. Belva, a young married woman with a son is the founder of Curtis House and she is nearby when Cora is pleading her case. This leads to her reminding the manager/housemother of an upcoming vacancy and she offers Cora a room for the night. Over time, they get to know each other well and there is great mutual respect. It is one of a mentor/employer (Belva) who encourages Cora’s work as an art instructor and also seeks to have Cora spend time on her own art creation. For some reason, she believes that painting is no longer an option for her, despite her training and talent.
At this point, everything else would involve spoilers, so I would say only that Cora discovers a new potential art form, creating dollhouses that are “portraits” of their owners, with significant choices about what is included and extra information hidden to tell the owners’ stories. The novel takes us to other parts of Europe during WWI, with Tildy trying to learn the history of Belva’s two dollhouses and Cora making her way through life on her eventual return to the United States. There is a fun part in England that involves a rehabilitation location for wounded servicemen and a Duchess who loves the dollhouse Cora made for Belva. Throughout, we wonder about and learn about the scandal that drove Cora from New York, about other clients/friends who commissioned their own unique dollhouses and their stories, about some mysteries in Tildy’s life that help her understand her mother who had a very hard life and expressed some memorable things to Tildy about the Bel when she went there on a field trip at 10 and later when she was looking for work after earning her graduate degrees.
I read the novel on audio, narrated beautifully by Emily Rankin and Caroline Hewitt. I found the pace perfect and the stories all important to explain the lives and work of Tildy and Cora and the resolution of their initially unexplained sorrows. The stories in the dollhouses are either very, very personal information on the owner’s intimate lives or would divulge very, very confidential information they have no right to publicize. I found them all interesting and the pace of the book just right. While the characters are all interesting, the plot and life stories are more up front than their inner voices. But they are definitely three-dimensional. I liked the writing very much. 4.5 rounded up.
They Called me Bookworm 