Growing up I tip-toed the line between wishing my toys came alive, to imaging what if they did? Fearing there would be a sudden movement from the creepy china doll my Grandma insisted on giving me. This delicate balance of magic, one with hope and fear, exists within The Toymakers. You’ll fall in love with the imagery of Papa Jack’s Emporium – the ultimate dream of a toyshop – wishing its cogs will turn forever with fantastical wind-up toys, whilst sensing there’s something dark beneath it all, with childhood battles of make-believe, in a love first shared, and in a competition of unending rivalry.
At first we’re introduced to the toyshop in 1917 as a customer/a friend/a child even but it’s not all rainbows and childhood laughter, for there’s something wrong with the Emporium – the toys are not acting as instructed. Instead, it’s as if….as if they have minds of their own, and from these brief pages we go back further in time to 1906; ‘In the beginning…’ for this is where all magical stories begin. The narrative changing direction to follow a young girl, Cathy, who’s pregnant, alone, and treated with shame by a family who are keen to keep her hidden. Running away in hope of a different life, Cathy comes to the Emporium and in her determination to keep her pregnancy a secret, becomes a secret herself – hiding in this magical shop, full of contained innocence and wonder, all the while hoping it can be made a home.
We then follow, for the first half of the book, a year in Cathy’s life, and in this you learn of a world anew, one that exists within the Emporium; discovering each of its in habitants, its toys, and their spheres within its universe. During this time you meet the owner; Jekabs ‘Papa Jack’ who will remind you in many parts of the legendary Santa, though his past is consumed with darkness. Then there are his two sons; Kaspar and Emil, who along with Cathy make up the main characters. Their story unfolding to be one of love, support, friendship, and family. But there’s also insecurity, jealousy, loneliness and being lost.
After a year the book shoots forward to 1914, with the viewer invited back into the Emporium like a friend who has been gone for those eight years; ‘Yes, come back to the Emporium with me now. You have been away too long…’. But, under all this pretty wrapping and the appealing warmth of a toy shop, lies something else, with sadness and joy often co-existing throughout the book. The make-believe war games of the brothers (long-held from their childhood) now come with a sound and show of a battle, one to be held in their adulthood, for this is now the year that the Great War began, 1914, and in the pages that follow the atmosphere of the country is captured.
Recording both its history and emotions, Dinsdale displays a nation; wishful in their beliefs of a quick war; shows the misery of those left behind; the prejudice of hate; judgement; patriotism; and loss. To also more personal effects – of fear and trauma – all the while the book moves forward till it catches pace with the opening scene of 1917, and from here on everything is uncharted, just as it is for those who live in the Emporium.
Dinsdale’s writing instils a sense of the same magic his toymakers evoke in their creations; many a time I felt like a child wanting to delve further into the Emporium, before switching back to an adult in understanding the destruction of war and the complexity of emotions. The book becoming an allegory of sorts, with ‘puppeteers’ controlling and commanding tin soldiers to destroy one another, regardless of their own minds or wishes, much like the wars captured within it – the book chronicling Cathy’s life into the 1950s.
Dinsdale’s descriptions are full to completion and leave no stone unturned in forming the scenes and soul of the Emporium, and by breaking these up between the conversation and thoughts of the characters, it avoids becoming a detailed list of decorations. Instead it enlivens the mind to believe the Emporium to be a real and a wholly tangible place that sits along Iron Duke Mews. The writing blending so well together that the reading flows along. Although this did have the effect of catching me out at times; having not realised that the direction had changed and as such having to re-read a sentence to regain my footing.
Although full of wondrous scenes, and complex characters, the part that appealed most to my not so inner-child, was the little dog Sirius – who will have adults wanting their own wind-up dog made of scraps of fabric and tartan ears. So much so in fact that dog’s charities may have to update their slogans; dogs are for life and so are wind-up ones too. Dinsdale has thought of everything with his creations, for example the dog’s barks and whines are those of fabric; ‘The dog’s whimper was the sound of wet laundry being slapped.’ But not to worry, no toy dogs were hurt in the making of this fabulous tale – its exploration of the psychologies of war and conflict also being littered with the possibility of second chances.
As mentioned earlier, Dinsdale begins his writing by directly addressing the reader and inviting you to become a part of the story itself, all the while the narrator guides you as a character to be chivvied and brought along in their inclusions; ‘…when you come through the doors.’ But as the characters are introduced you see the story through their eyes. In a later tactic of including letters as an exchange of dialogue and having them read by one particular character, Cathy, you hear her opinions alongside – producing the sensation of reading two people’s timelines and emotions as they merge into one, and thereby creating a greater impact.
Filled with an explosion of imagination – enough to make it seem like a new invention – The Toymakers has exploding paper trees that take root and regrow each year, a castle in the clouds that lowers it drawbridge as toy reindeers take flight, while below, ballerinas spin beautiful pirouettes and soldiers look for new paths to take. But most of all it challenges the format of magic by looking at the power, pain and the ability to change – which we all hold within ourselves.
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: Del Rey (part of Penguin Random House)
ISBN: 9781785036354
Cover Design: Laura Barrett
Title Lettering: Peter Horridge
Presented Edition: 2019 Paperback
Background image courtesy of Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash
The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale (2018)
Growing up I tip-toed the line between wishing my toys came alive, to imaging what if they did? Fearing there would be a sudden movement from the creepy china doll my Grandma insisted on giving me. This delicate balance of magic, one with hope and fear, exists within The Toymakers. You’ll fall in love with the imagery of Papa Jack’s Emporium – the ultimate dream of a toyshop – wishing its cogs will turn forever with fantastical wind-up toys, whilst sensing there’s something dark beneath it all, with childhood battles of make-believe, in a love first shared, and in a competition of unending rivalry.
At first we’re introduced to the toyshop in 1917 as a customer/a friend/a child even but it’s not all rainbows and childhood laughter, for there’s something wrong with the Emporium – the toys are not acting as instructed. Instead, it’s as if….as if they have minds of their own, and from these brief pages we go back further in time to 1906; ‘In the beginning…’ for this is where all magical stories begin. The narrative changing direction to follow a young girl, Cathy, who’s pregnant, alone, and treated with shame by a family who are keen to keep her hidden. Running away in hope of a different life, Cathy comes to the Emporium and in her determination to keep her pregnancy a secret, becomes a secret herself – hiding in this magical shop, full of contained innocence and wonder, all the while hoping it can be made a home.
We then follow, for the first half of the book, a year in Cathy’s life, and in this you learn of a world anew, one that exists within the Emporium; discovering each of its in habitants, its toys, and their spheres within its universe. During this time you meet the owner; Jekabs ‘Papa Jack’ who will remind you in many parts of the legendary Santa, though his past is consumed with darkness. Then there are his two sons; Kaspar and Emil, who along with Cathy make up the main characters. Their story unfolding to be one of love, support, friendship, and family. But there’s also insecurity, jealousy, loneliness and being lost.
After a year the book shoots forward to 1914, with the viewer invited back into the Emporium like a friend who has been gone for those eight years; ‘Yes, come back to the Emporium with me now. You have been away too long…’. But, under all this pretty wrapping and the appealing warmth of a toy shop, lies something else, with sadness and joy often co-existing throughout the book. The make-believe war games of the brothers (long-held from their childhood) now come with a sound and show of a battle, one to be held in their adulthood, for this is now the year that the Great War began, 1914, and in the pages that follow the atmosphere of the country is captured.
Recording both its history and emotions, Dinsdale displays a nation; wishful in their beliefs of a quick war; shows the misery of those left behind; the prejudice of hate; judgement; patriotism; and loss. To also more personal effects – of fear and trauma – all the while the book moves forward till it catches pace with the opening scene of 1917, and from here on everything is uncharted, just as it is for those who live in the Emporium.
Dinsdale’s writing instils a sense of the same magic his toymakers evoke in their creations; many a time I felt like a child wanting to delve further into the Emporium, before switching back to an adult in understanding the destruction of war and the complexity of emotions. The book becoming an allegory of sorts, with ‘puppeteers’ controlling and commanding tin soldiers to destroy one another, regardless of their own minds or wishes, much like the wars captured within it – the book chronicling Cathy’s life into the 1950s.
Dinsdale’s descriptions are full to completion and leave no stone unturned in forming the scenes and soul of the Emporium, and by breaking these up between the conversation and thoughts of the characters, it avoids becoming a detailed list of decorations. Instead it enlivens the mind to believe the Emporium to be a real and a wholly tangible place that sits along Iron Duke Mews. The writing blending so well together that the reading flows along. Although this did have the effect of catching me out at times; having not realised that the direction had changed and as such having to re-read a sentence to regain my footing.
Although full of wondrous scenes, and complex characters, the part that appealed most to my not so inner-child, was the little dog Sirius – who will have adults wanting their own wind-up dog made of scraps of fabric and tartan ears. So much so in fact that dog’s charities may have to update their slogans; dogs are for life and so are wind-up ones too. Dinsdale has thought of everything with his creations, for example the dog’s barks and whines are those of fabric; ‘The dog’s whimper was the sound of wet laundry being slapped.’ But not to worry, no toy dogs were hurt in the making of this fabulous tale – its exploration of the psychologies of war and conflict also being littered with the possibility of second chances.
As mentioned earlier, Dinsdale begins his writing by directly addressing the reader and inviting you to become a part of the story itself, all the while the narrator guides you as a character to be chivvied and brought along in their inclusions; ‘…when you come through the doors.’ But as the characters are introduced you see the story through their eyes. In a later tactic of including letters as an exchange of dialogue and having them read by one particular character, Cathy, you hear her opinions alongside – producing the sensation of reading two people’s timelines and emotions as they merge into one, and thereby creating a greater impact.
Filled with an explosion of imagination – enough to make it seem like a new invention – The Toymakers has exploding paper trees that take root and regrow each year, a castle in the clouds that lowers it drawbridge as toy reindeers take flight, while below, ballerinas spin beautiful pirouettes and soldiers look for new paths to take. But most of all it challenges the format of magic by looking at the power, pain and the ability to change – which we all hold within ourselves.
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: Del Rey (part of Penguin Random House)
ISBN: 9781785036354
Cover Design: Laura Barrett
Title Lettering: Peter Horridge
Presented Edition: 2019 Paperback
Background image courtesy of Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash
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