3. The Doll's House - Rumer Godden
As adept in the world of children's fiction as she was in adult fiction, Rumer Godden wrote this frankly horrifying book about dolls and their lives and relationships which are turned upside down by the arrival of a villainous doll to their cherished doll house. Many of you will have been traumatised by a stop motion adaptation of the story by Oliver Postgate which aired on ITV kid's TV time during the 1980s. Tottie is a Dutch wooden doll who lives with several other dolls in a beautiful Doll's house. Tottie Plantagenet is the voice of reason and the sage of the house which also includes a celluloid doll called Birdie, who is very sweet but a bit touched in the head. Birdie has a husband called Mr Plantagenet, a son called Apple and a dog called Darner. They live together in a happy fashion until Marchpane, a beautiful china doll who is incredibly vain and manipulative, comes to live with them and ends up causing havoc in the house which leads to murderous deeds. A strange, melancholy book which will haunt the adult and child alike after reading it, Godden has a magical touch when it comes to describing the secret world of the dolls. The way she brings them alive and assigns them a personality is spooky. Children who read this book will never look at their toys in the same way again - they will probably nurture them a bit more. However, I couldn't see them rushing out to buy a dolls' house and dolls to go in it after reading the novel as they will be too scared of murderous dollies killing each other. For adults - the book is pretty spooky and depressing and will surely linger in the mind for a goodwhile after reading it.