The living doll Karolina is a seamstress. She sews
wishes into the doll’s clothes she makes in her Kingdom known as the Land of
the Dolls. An invasion by rats that have threatened their Kingdom for years,
forces her to set out for the human world, where along the way, she meets
Fritz, a toy soldier.
Karolina awakes to find herself without Fritz, and in
a Dollmaker’s shop in Krakow, Poland, in 1939, after being carried there by the
wind, Dogoda. Her cracked cheek and tattered clothes have been restored to
their initial beautiful state.
Karolina carries magic with her. This secret magic
is a powerful tool which she uses to transform and save lives, in a country
invaded by the enemy, where children shipped to promised lands on trains, never
return. Her gift later becomes a weapon against her.
The Dollmaker, a broken man, is also gifted with a
magic that has been dormant for years. His solitary and withdrawn life, have
left him badly scarred. With Karolina’s coming, his darkness slowly evaporates.
He is restored through love, and so is his gift.
Their lives entwine in an inexplicable way. They
face many challenges and a tragic loss due to war, but regain hope and a
togetherness they both thought was gone forever.
The stories are aligned perfectly. The invasion of
the Kingdom of the dolls by the rats, how they finalize their plans, then exert
their power over the country, is a strong reference to what happened to the
children and others at the hands of the enemy during the Holocaust.
The book is beautifully presented. It’s an anthem
to voices that are never silenced as long as there are stories to be told. A
stunning cover portrays the most significant images from the narrative. The
pages are decorated with black ink borders. The chapters depicting Karolina’s
life before her transportation to the human world are decorated in dolls. The
parts of her story after she leaves her Kingdom are bordered in rats.
Perfect prose propels the story. Charming words of
wisdom pour from the characters voices. Sadness is transformed into hope. Love regenerates
the damaged souls.
This is a book that will stay with you long after
the cover closes.
Title:
The Dollmaker of Krakow
Author:
Rachel Romero
Illustrator:
Tomislav Tomic
Publisher:
Walker Books, $24.99
Publication
Date: December 2017
Format:
Hardcover
ISBN:
9781406375633
For
ages: 9+
Type: Middle Fiction
