The Dollmaker of Krakow

[Disclaimer: the author is one of my dearest friends. This in no way effects my review. I do not leave fraudulent reviews of any sort on books (etc) by any fellow writer. I believe an author would want me to be honest with their work.]

Where do I begin.

I'm not the kind of reader who cries while reading; I don't know why. That doesn't mean I don't feel strongly about books that move me, I absolutely do. But The Dollmaker of Krakow broke the strange tradition and had me crying (actual, flat-out ugly sobbing) from the last three chapters out.

Finishing this book literally hurt my heart, much the same way finishing Watership Down and The Lord of the Rings did to me as a child; I never thought that would happen again in my adult life.

The prose is as lyrical as bells and delicate as silver filigree but as clear as moonlight, and the characters became so dear to me that the bittersweet ending absolutely tore my heart out. Plucky little Karolina and gentle-hearted Cyryl are destined to become classic faces in Middle Grade literature, I will stake my last breath on this.

Romero doesn't candy-coat the darker aspects of this tale, neither the impeccably researched real-world history nor the tragic story of the World of Dolls that twists through it, mirroring the main narrative in tiny, startling glimpses, but you never lose sight of one thing -- hope. Even as you're picking up the mangled pieces of your shattered heart towards the end, hope shines through the darkness.

This book isn't just an excellent, emotive, heartrending story, it's the kind of story that is direly needed in times like these. It's not a book for cynics, it's a book for those who are looking desperately into the cloudy future and asking, "is it worth it?" The Dollmaker of Krakow answers "yes, it is worth it. Every struggle and every choice is worth it; every act of kindness and understanding is so much more than a drop in the ocean. Never lose that hope."