Written by Robert Dinsdale
Do you remember when you believed in magic?
It 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 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…
Magical Enchantment! 
What a book! Never in all my reading years have I been so enthralled by a story – I think, somewhere over the last couple of days I returned to my very best memories of childhood. Robert Dinsdale is not just an author, a writer … he is also something of a magician!
Everyone has an imagination; it’s what give authors the desire to write and urges the readers on to read and what makes both feel a bit lost without a book on the go. But this author’s imagination gets under your skin and conjures up scenes of such magnificence that you begin to live, breathe and dream this novel. There is a solid storyline too – one which keeps your mind concentrated on the characters and what’s about to happen next, but never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted the ending. I somehow feel richer and more mature for having read The Toymakers – I feel this is a once in a lifetime read and I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to immerse myself so completely in such a masterpiece.
I expect most would classify this one as fantasy – and yet, I neither read nor enjoy fantasy and I certainly don’t ever award it five stars! However, there is a reality about this book which makes the magic all the more understandable and I hope this feeling never leaves me.
My sincere thanks to Ebury Publishing, part of Penguin Random House UK for approving my copy via NetGalley. This is my honest, original and unbiased review.
Tags: magical reality
- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 1432.0 KB
- Print Length: 480 pages
- Publisher: Ebury Digital
- Publication Date: 8 February 2018
- Link to Buy: http://amzn.eu/bkxHyJp
Meet the Author
Robert Dinsdale was born in 1981 in North Yorkshire and currently lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. He is the author of THE HARROWING, LITTLE EXILES, GINGERBREAD and THE TOYMAKERS.
