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 about the situation. By the author of "The Vet's Daughter" and "The Juniper Tree".
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The eponymous house belongs to Amy Doll, a young, unassertive widow, striving to educate her reluctant teenage daughter and dependent on the rent payments of an odd complement of women who lease the upstairs rooms in her London residence. While Amy attempts to set limits within her own space in the basement, she realizes that "her house was being used as a brothel for elderly gentlemen." The doyennes of the upstairs are two aging harridans who spar endlessly with each other. Both are divorcees, short on money, long in languorous, bibulous reminiscences about better times and better men. They entertain some doddering admirers, which brings the house to the attention of an enterprising policeman, allowing Comyns to introduce a wholesome love interest for Amy. How all the women, especially the ladies who are to be evicted upon Amy's marriage, have their fates worked out--rather too patly--is the burden of this fragile, occasionally amusing novel from the author of The Juniper Tree .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Houseful of aging women in 1960s London,
By Pamela (Dubuque, IA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The House of Dolls (Hardcover)
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.
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