The Doll's House

A Short Story

De: Lisa Unger

Narrado por: Mia Barron, Kimberly Woods

A widowed mother, ready to give love another chance, moves into her fiancé’s old family home with her teenage daughter. But as they try to build a future together, the past refuses to let go in this haunting short story from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.

When Jules first meets the handsome artist Kirin, she’s still mourning her husband’s death, but a fairytale romance soon sweeps her off her feet. Now she and her daughter Scout are moving out of the city and into Kirin’s once-lonely mansion. He’s thoughtfully updated and adapted the home to match their personalities. But Scout is determined to keep her father’s memory alive by rejecting the new life her mother and Kirin have spun for her.

Scout’s sullenness begins to fade, though, when she finds a beautiful handmade doll in one of the many empty rooms in the house. Kirin says that the doll belonged to his late sister and he’d like Scout to have it. Scout’s hopeful for a connection over their shared grief, but as she grows more curious about Kirin’s sister, she can’t escape the feeling that a danger lurks in the house…and its gaze is fixed on her mother.

©2024 by Lisa Unger. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Suspenseful

I liked listening to this. The characters were interesting. There were some creepy moments. The narrators were good.

was okay for a short reader listen

I have been listening to this bookbefore I sleep and it was not bad .. also not amazingly exciting to keep me from falling asleep
no so bad average book

The mystery surrounding the sisters story

Disliked how short the story was, it felt rushed and not a lot of suspense.

So good

Pretty cool. I was pleasantly surprised. Well written and narrated. It’s nice to find a good short story.

Doll house

Pretty good For a short story- I recommended this one to my friends who love audio and books !

The storyline

The performance was engaging. The characters were well thought out. The storyline was twisty and mysterious. The ending was well wrapped up.

This was phenomenal

. Short and sweet.
Mysterious and creepy.

It alternated between daughter and mother narration.

This almost reminds me of the movie Smart House, or an Alexa with a haunting..

I can’t say much more without spoilers. But this was good!!

Narrators- great listen

This was a great listen. It’s interesting and has much to the imagination!! Get it- it’s free

Very neat plot and eerie twists.

I really enjoyed this short story. The characters were easy to follow and the storyline was intriguing. I was glad the end of the story gave closure but still left a hint of mystery.

Loved it and would've loved more!

I believe the most difficult thing to do with a novella is tell a story that feels complete. In The Doll's House, Lisa Unger achieved this in a minimal amount of pages. Told in dual POV from a widowed mother and her daughter, this story gives you characters that you connect with and feel for. You feel their past and you understand their present.

Set in a creepy family estate outside of the city, The Doll's House has Scout and her mother Jules going to live with Jules' new fiancé Kirin, who is a pretty famous doll maker. Their world gets turned upside down from the death of Scout's father to the new man in Jules life. Everyone has a past, but some are a bit more troubled than others.

I really liked the creepy setting and the whole vibe of this short novella. I was immediately drawn to Scout and felt for this teen that was ripped away from everything she knew to come live in a "smart house" world. But nothing sat right for her. And with good reason. The whole vibe of this story was on point and I really enjoyed it. I would've loved to have heard more about the past and even gotten more of "after the fact", but I didn't feel as if I was missing anything. Great characters and good build up of an intense ending. Both narrators were great and captured the two female characters emotions throughout. Perfect read/listen for SpookTober.