The House of Dolls

by Barbara Comyns

Book Overview

If not exactly tarts, the four ladies who live in Amy's Doll's house have built up a modest but successful "little business" entertaining their elderly gentlemen friends. But Amy is far from happy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312049749
• ISBN13: 9780312049744
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 155 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Houseful of aging women in 1960s London

This is an interesting read from an earlier era. Basically, a woman named Amy Doll keeps boarders upstairs, and when she raises the rent, they resort to prostitution. The boarders are four middle-aged to post-menopausal women - one is almost wholesome, one is exotically foreign, and two are active alcoholics. The novel explores many life situations, romance, poverty, domestic work, etc. A policeman comes to spy on the old tarts (or so Amy guesses), but ends up being a love-interest and an anchor which enables Amy Doll to demand an end to the unsavory activities upstairs. The author might have made a stronger statement about the working wage, women in poverty, etc., but instead the writing is very plain and lacking in condemnation. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions. The situations are realistic, and this might be called "realism," although the sexual activity is mainly alluded to and not detailed.It's a readable book, a product of its era. The contemporary reader might be surprised that such a topic could be dealt with in such a _clean_ manner.