The prologue opens in 1949, Australia. Anna Winter is a doll repairer. She never asks how a doll was damaged or why it’s so special. Asking no questions, Anna prefers the company of the dolls, not the owners.

Chapter One takes us back to 1938 Warsaw. Trying to escape Hitler’s persecution and tightening grip on Europe, Alter, ‘a Yiddish poet chasing a dream, looking for somewhere to rest his bones’, flees to the furthest place he can find from Warsaw. Birdum is a remote town in Australia, the last stop on the North Australian Railway. It’s also the same place that Anna escaped to. But we are not told why Anna fled Germany. She is not Jewish. Anna keeps her past to herself, never revealing it when asked.

As time passes, Anna and Alter fall in love. But Alter, understandably so, wishes to know more about her and why she is so secretive about her past. A past that, once revealed, may shatter the love they have just found.

Anna’s past is slowly revealed, with the narrative alternating between the present and the past. We find out why she escaped to Australia and that her secrets may result from Anna herself not understanding what happened to her as a child.

This is not a war novel, but Hitler’s hatred and persecution of the Jews is a backdrop used to explore themes of displacement and oppression with themes about the basic human need to live in safety, and to be able to call somewhere home.

Doll’s Eye is an enjoyable love story, which I believe could have been better if it was a little longer, giving more depth to the two main characters.

Reviewed by Neale Lucas

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