Do you remember when you believed in magic?An enchanting, magical novel set in a mysterious toyshop – perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and Stephanie Garber’s Caraval by way of Jessie Burton’s The MiniaturistIt is 1917, and while war wages across Europe, in the heart of London, there is a place of hope and enchantment.The Emporium sells toys that capture the imagination of … Emporium sells toys that capture the imagination of children and adults alike: patchwork dogs that seem alive, toy boxes that are bigger on the inside, soldiers that can fight battles of their own. Into this family business comes young Cathy Wray, running away from a shameful past. The Emporium takes her in, makes her one of its own.
But Cathy is about to discover that the Emporium has secrets of its own…
‘engaging and enchanting … a fairytale for adults, with all the wonder – and terror – that that entails…it is the sense of joy that lingers in this fine book.’ The Observer
An EBook Number 1 bestseller with over 400 5* reviews – readers are enchanted by this magic tale:
‘If you only buy one book this year – buy this one’
‘As if Terry Pratchett has come back to life Disney Toy Story style’
‘Best book I’ve read for many years’
‘A book to lose yourself in’
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I am obsessed with this book. It is like Christmas, filled with the magic and imagination of childhood. It takes surprising turns, but the ending is absolutely more than you could ever hope for. The perfect read for the holiday season!
Like the magic at the heart of the story, this vivid, haunting novel is both vast and intimate. A world war echoes a family conflict, and the delights and dangers of childhood suddenly have vast implications. A wonderful and thought-provoking read.
Such an interesting book! This was unlike anything I’d ever read and I found myself wishing that someone would make it into a movie and visually capture the magic the author was describing. It went deeper than that, though, exploring war, family drama, love, and more.
Magical toy makers. A place I would have loved to see.
What an extraordinary and wonderful achievement this novel is! I was gripped, and thrilled, and touched, and above all I was completely swept into the magic of the book… And the scope of the thing! Such a broad chronological range, such sweep, all with the lightest touch. Just astonishing.
Did not want to put it down. So many themes, magic of childhood, war, revisioning of what was to what could be, what if toys could learn?
Touches many deeply moving aspects of life; love, fear, hope, betrayal. magic, history, but most of all love!
For me, this was a rare and special fantasy. It passes a rare bar: the magic is real and substantial and has an integrity….it’s not just bunch of literary special effects, a clanking let-there-be-magic magic, but a magic that lives and breathes and grows and is real…the secret magic at the heart of our difficult mundane world
And it plays wonderfully well with two literary devices: the Cain and Abel myth (though Cain does not kill Abel, but immures him, from which his love eventually delivers him) and the Toymaker. The toymaker, a disguised Creator (that watchmaker that the evangelical like to posit) who makes worlds where discord turns to concord…and recreates the magic of the heart.
This book has intresting but true insight on that of children & adults as well. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry. It most definitely has a bitter sweet ending.
It was good, intriguing but a little bit of a strange fantasy. I did enjoy it.
The first 70% of this book is an engrossing page turner, and sets up the rivalry between the two brothers, Kaspar and Emil (which any astute reader knows won’t end well). When Kaspar comes back from WWI as one of the “Lost Generation” the book starts to stall since there doesn’t seem any real reason why the toy soldiers become sentient (as they don’t do anything with their new intelligence other than torment two little boys the author couldn’t bother to name and that Cathy feels no compassion for). The ending feels rushed and the resolution ‘jumped the shark’ for me. Even in a book with Magical Realism the last chapter took it to far. Overall, a solid read, especially for those with an interest in the early 1900’s England, WWI, and magic.
One of the best novels I have recently read. On a par with The Midnight Circus, another wonderful book.
This could be one of the most enchanting books I have ever read – and, perhaps, will ever read. The Toymakers is an amazing tale filled with magic, beauty, incredible imagination, but also great drama and tragic storylines. The writing is superb, I came to care a great deal about the characters, and all of it made me feel like I was actually there, in Papa Jack’s Emporium.
This is a novel I will surely read again one day, and I can’t wait to dive right back into this world of wonder.
I could not put this book down, it’s that good. Two young boys reunited with their father, a toymaker which takes them on a wonderful, haunting journey of being not just premier toy makers, but bringing fantasty to a childs life. The Emporium is like none other. However, life interrupts as it always does, and alters the lives of Emil and Kaspar as well as their families. This is a great journey that I will reread so I can experience it again.