Tartarus Press

publishers

The Doll Maker

and Other Tales of the Uncanny

by

Sarban

 

Described by no less an authority than E.F. Bleiler as 'excellent', 'The Doll Maker' is the story of Clare Lydgate, a young woman studying at boarding school for her Oxford scholarship examinations. In the evenings, she escapes the school grounds by climbing over the wall of Brackenbine Hall. It is here that she encounters the charismatic and mysterious Niall Sterne, the 'Doll Maker' of the title. This is a subtle, intelligent and compelling tale of horror. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural describes 'The Doll Maker' as Sarban’s most intriguing work, and says that Niall Sterne 'offers no ordinary seduction, and there is a delicate horror in his beautiful, sterile doll-world, the antithesis of life itself.'

 

First published in 1953, ‘The Doll Maker’ appears with ‘The Trespassers’, and ‘A House of Call’.

 

Also by Sarban

Ringstones

The Sound of His Horn and Other Stories

 

See also Time, A Falconer, a biography of Sarban by Mark Valentine

 

 

Reviews:

'A beautifully written tale of rural magic reminiscent of Machen. Another Tartarus book to be read and treasured.' Matt Leyshon, Blood from Stones (Waterstone’s magazine)

'I am delighted with this lovely new edition of a favourite book. . . . Get your order in quickly—you won’t regret it.' Roger Johnson, All Hallows