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The Inner Room
In perhaps the most magnificent of what he called his 'strange stories', Robert Aickman blurs the lines between memory, premonition and the hallucinated life.
Lene, a woman now recovering from the losses of the Second World War, recalls a gothic dolls' house of her childhood and the way in which its uncanny inhabitants entered her dreams. Most chillingly, the geometries of the house didn't add up; there had to be a secret room inside it.
Years later, she comes across a life-size version in a wood not marked on any map . . .
Lene, a woman now recovering from the losses of the Second World War, recalls a gothic dolls' house of her childhood and the way in which its uncanny inhabitants entered her dreams. Most chillingly, the geometries of the house didn't add up; there had to be a secret room inside it.
Years later, she comes across a life-size version in a wood not marked on any map . . .
66 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
31 people are currently reading
834 people want to read
About the author
Robert Aickman
153 books545 followersAuthor of: close to 50 "strange stories" in the weird-tale and ghost-story traditions, two novels (The Late Breakfasters and The Model), two volumes of memoir (The Attempted Rescue and The River Runs Uphill), and two books on the canals of England (Know Your Waterways and The Story of Our Inland Waterways).
Co-founder and longtime president of the Inland Waterways Association, an organization that in the middle of the 20th century restored a great part of England's deteriorating system of canals, now a major draw for recreation nationally and for tourism internationally.
Grandson of author Richard Marsh.
Co-founder and longtime president of the Inland Waterways Association, an organization that in the middle of the 20th century restored a great part of England's deteriorating system of canals, now a major draw for recreation nationally and for tourism internationally.
Grandson of author Richard Marsh.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
January 10, 2025
At our mid-age crisis we ALL hafta Rassle Down our Ghosts & and Inner Demons! Without exception - every ONE of us.
I was as yet ignorant of that fact when, in 1984, I began my management training for my fast-tracked career in Trenton, Ontario...
The place I studied my on-the-job course training in was a button-down, repressive, tunnel-visioned spot, where I needed to come up for air often. One such occasion was afforded there, through the beneficent auspices of a kind new friend, Peter.
Peter, being a recent immigrant, was a round peg in a square hole like me. But unbenownst to me, he also wished to lay a few of his ghosts and demons to rest.
And he wanted to see Bill Murray's Ghostbusters downtown to do that.
Well, frankly, it literally spooked me out, just like this story did. For I had seen the Dark Side up close in the 1970's. So Peter's crisis was lightened by Murray's bitterly cynical fun, while mine was only now commencing, and the film depressed me.
When my crisis accelerated, 20 years later, I nearly fell through the cracks like the hapless heroine of this harrowing tale!
So is this Faber Short good?
Yes!
What's it about?
It's a creepy, ghoulish tale of little people...
And of their just deserts (and desserts, perhaps - anyone want a second helping)? You’ll see what I mean when you finish this budget-priced novella!
Well, I did want second helpings, when I finished it. So badly, I bought an entire new volume of Aickman’s macabre masterworks. My crisis, you see, had been heightened to fever pitch by burnout.
This story is a parable on the old, old adage: the wages of sin are death... but you’ll see for yourself.
As I grow older, it becomes so much clearer to me how those who mock virtue are left only, at the end of their lives, with the bitter taste of ashes in their mouths. The Abyss can seem to yawn wide and deep for them!
Ash on an old man’s sleeve
Is all the dust the burnt roses leave...
If you can see in the narrator’s mindset how the tunnel of her life (and its options) become narrower and narrower for her because of her actions, you’ll see how appropriate it is when, late in life, she finds she’s skating on thin spiritual ice.
Such is the use of supernatural stories which are written by a man of settled morals!
It’s set primarily in the lazy, dusty backwaters of 1930’s rural England. A land that time and progress forgot.
And it’ll make your skin crawl. EERIE’s not the word!
Dad is on again, off-again, and mainly unemployed. Mother is steady as a rock. Little brother is a polymath. And the little anti-heroine?
Well, she has her very own (and very haunted) ancient dolls’ house. And her very own, slightly twisted, view of life.
The story winds up in the fifties, contemporaneous (as so happens) with that horrific cinematic Ealing Studios masterpiece - so closely related to this in ghoulishness - Dead of Night.
With much the same nightmarish dénouement.
So...
If you should go skating on the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach of a million tear-stained eyes
Don’t be surprised when a crack in the ice appears under your feet!
Yikes! Pink Floyd was right.
DON’T read this story in an old, dark house at night, folks.
Or you’ll REGRET it!
But if you're in the emotional pain of midage - like me and Peter - you'll RELISH it.
I was as yet ignorant of that fact when, in 1984, I began my management training for my fast-tracked career in Trenton, Ontario...
The place I studied my on-the-job course training in was a button-down, repressive, tunnel-visioned spot, where I needed to come up for air often. One such occasion was afforded there, through the beneficent auspices of a kind new friend, Peter.
Peter, being a recent immigrant, was a round peg in a square hole like me. But unbenownst to me, he also wished to lay a few of his ghosts and demons to rest.
And he wanted to see Bill Murray's Ghostbusters downtown to do that.
Well, frankly, it literally spooked me out, just like this story did. For I had seen the Dark Side up close in the 1970's. So Peter's crisis was lightened by Murray's bitterly cynical fun, while mine was only now commencing, and the film depressed me.
When my crisis accelerated, 20 years later, I nearly fell through the cracks like the hapless heroine of this harrowing tale!
So is this Faber Short good?
Yes!
What's it about?
It's a creepy, ghoulish tale of little people...
And of their just deserts (and desserts, perhaps - anyone want a second helping)? You’ll see what I mean when you finish this budget-priced novella!
Well, I did want second helpings, when I finished it. So badly, I bought an entire new volume of Aickman’s macabre masterworks. My crisis, you see, had been heightened to fever pitch by burnout.
This story is a parable on the old, old adage: the wages of sin are death... but you’ll see for yourself.
As I grow older, it becomes so much clearer to me how those who mock virtue are left only, at the end of their lives, with the bitter taste of ashes in their mouths. The Abyss can seem to yawn wide and deep for them!
Ash on an old man’s sleeve
Is all the dust the burnt roses leave...
If you can see in the narrator’s mindset how the tunnel of her life (and its options) become narrower and narrower for her because of her actions, you’ll see how appropriate it is when, late in life, she finds she’s skating on thin spiritual ice.
Such is the use of supernatural stories which are written by a man of settled morals!
It’s set primarily in the lazy, dusty backwaters of 1930’s rural England. A land that time and progress forgot.
And it’ll make your skin crawl. EERIE’s not the word!
Dad is on again, off-again, and mainly unemployed. Mother is steady as a rock. Little brother is a polymath. And the little anti-heroine?
Well, she has her very own (and very haunted) ancient dolls’ house. And her very own, slightly twisted, view of life.
The story winds up in the fifties, contemporaneous (as so happens) with that horrific cinematic Ealing Studios masterpiece - so closely related to this in ghoulishness - Dead of Night.
With much the same nightmarish dénouement.
So...
If you should go skating on the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach of a million tear-stained eyes
Don’t be surprised when a crack in the ice appears under your feet!
Yikes! Pink Floyd was right.
DON’T read this story in an old, dark house at night, folks.
Or you’ll REGRET it!
But if you're in the emotional pain of midage - like me and Peter - you'll RELISH it.
August 25, 2019
Weird story, creepy, especially the end... New writer for me, interesting. Intriguing.
Lene, a woman now recovering from the Second World War, recalls a gothic doll's house her parents bought for her in her childhood and the way in which its uncanny inhabitants entered her dreams. Most chilingly, it seems there is a hidden, secret room. Years later, lost in the woods during a walk in bad weather, she comes across a life-size version in a wood not marked on any map with especially weird and creepy inhabitants... 3.7 rating.
I really like those Faber story booklets, it gives you opportunity to check out new writers!
Lene, a woman now recovering from the Second World War, recalls a gothic doll's house her parents bought for her in her childhood and the way in which its uncanny inhabitants entered her dreams. Most chilingly, it seems there is a hidden, secret room. Years later, lost in the woods during a walk in bad weather, she comes across a life-size version in a wood not marked on any map with especially weird and creepy inhabitants... 3.7 rating.
I really like those Faber story booklets, it gives you opportunity to check out new writers!
February 14, 2019
A little girl is given a doll’s house for her birthday. And, because this is a Robert Aickman short story, it turns out to be haunted! Wooooooo, spooky stuff!
I like the idea of the story, which has a kind of Russian nesting doll structure to it, and aspects of it as well, like the hidden room that can be seen from the outside but not found within. And the final act was suitably creep-tastic.
But it’s a really slow-moving story with not much happening for the most part. Aickman’s prose felt especially thick in this one, perhaps to accentuate the dream-like atmosphere - it doesn’t seem quite real - though it made it hard to visualise what little was happening. Aickman is sometimes too subtle for his own good and I definitely felt that way with this one. And, as always, the ending is anticlimactic - he can’t ever end his stories well.
I didn’t like The Inner Room much. I’d recommend Ringing the Changes instead but Aickman is an acquired taste so don’t expect much from this fairly unknown (for a reason) horror writer.
I like the idea of the story, which has a kind of Russian nesting doll structure to it, and aspects of it as well, like the hidden room that can be seen from the outside but not found within. And the final act was suitably creep-tastic.
But it’s a really slow-moving story with not much happening for the most part. Aickman’s prose felt especially thick in this one, perhaps to accentuate the dream-like atmosphere - it doesn’t seem quite real - though it made it hard to visualise what little was happening. Aickman is sometimes too subtle for his own good and I definitely felt that way with this one. And, as always, the ending is anticlimactic - he can’t ever end his stories well.
I didn’t like The Inner Room much. I’d recommend Ringing the Changes instead but Aickman is an acquired taste so don’t expect much from this fairly unknown (for a reason) horror writer.
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January 4, 2021*****I read "The Inner Room" twice. This was my review from Feb 2020
Short book. Was not for me. 2 star rating per GR ("its ok")
This is the review from yesterday 1/2/2021
Many times a story should be read more than once.
I read it again today to understand why I was one of the few who didn't care for this story, or maybe I should say.. to appreciate this story.
A short story taking place before and after WW2 .about a very young girl who asks and receives a doll house as a present from her father. Shortly after she begins to have dreams about her doll house that disturb her.
Fast forward decades later she goes back to her childhood home and sees her unattended, dust ridden dollhouse.
A strange story it was.
I read reviews after finishing this, where I saw more than just a few critics refer to this story as being in the horror / mystery genre. I did not take away that opinion; in fact, far from it but then again I am not in that arena.
Reading Old English had me re-reading many sentences- no issue there.
Slow in the beginning, something piqued my curiosity that I must have missed the first time and I
saw it after the story set up was finished.
This story still isn't for me, but doesn't negate the fact it shouldn't earn it's stars.
I thought the writing was superb for what it was, while being a creative and very imaginative story.
3.5
I did not read this four times as it says..
Short book. Was not for me. 2 star rating per GR ("its ok")
This is the review from yesterday 1/2/2021
Many times a story should be read more than once.
I read it again today to understand why I was one of the few who didn't care for this story, or maybe I should say.. to appreciate this story.
A short story taking place before and after WW2 .about a very young girl who asks and receives a doll house as a present from her father. Shortly after she begins to have dreams about her doll house that disturb her.
Fast forward decades later she goes back to her childhood home and sees her unattended, dust ridden dollhouse.
A strange story it was.
I read reviews after finishing this, where I saw more than just a few critics refer to this story as being in the horror / mystery genre. I did not take away that opinion; in fact, far from it but then again I am not in that arena.
Reading Old English had me re-reading many sentences- no issue there.
Slow in the beginning, something piqued my curiosity that I must have missed the first time and I
saw it after the story set up was finished.
This story still isn't for me, but doesn't negate the fact it shouldn't earn it's stars.
I thought the writing was superb for what it was, while being a creative and very imaginative story.
3.5
I did not read this four times as it says..
March 11, 2011
aickman's m.o. is to write with perfect clarity about infinitely mysterious events. his stories don't really work according to classical story structure; or, they do, but they leave many things unexplained. the real story always seems to be lurking behind the story; the process of reading is the process of catching a glimpse of it. they don't so much resolve as finally usher you out and leave you to try to rebuild them in your head. (hopefully, in a way where you can see the story from "all four sides at once," the way the narrator in this story sees the dollhouse in her dream. (good luck!))
this story also reminds me a lot of joyce carol oates' "the doll," which was written later, and was always my favorite dollhouse story. i'd be interested to learn if she'd read this before writing it. not that i'm accusing her of anything.
this story also reminds me a lot of joyce carol oates' "the doll," which was written later, and was always my favorite dollhouse story. i'd be interested to learn if she'd read this before writing it. not that i'm accusing her of anything.
March 11, 2024
An English Gothic ghost story, but one that, while perhaps letting the reader down a little on the ghost front, has a great deal of depth and atmosphere regarding the characters, the setting and the historical context (it covers the 1920s to the postwar period, and was first published in 1968).
Lene is the daughter of an English father (perennially unemployed) and a German mother who supports the family) when in the summer of 1921 she requests an appropriately spooky doll's house for her birthday. Cue dreams/hallucinations/premonitions.
It only takes an hour to read but I'm left several hours later mulling over the relationships, the German connotations, the war, the forest. Beautifully written too.
Lene is the daughter of an English father (perennially unemployed) and a German mother who supports the family) when in the summer of 1921 she requests an appropriately spooky doll's house for her birthday. Cue dreams/hallucinations/premonitions.
It only takes an hour to read but I'm left several hours later mulling over the relationships, the German connotations, the war, the forest. Beautifully written too.
September 4, 2019
I am frustrated not to turn the final page and have loved this one more. It was full of all the trappings of a great horror story, but never really felt like to stretched its legs to the full extent of actually becoming one.
A sinister doll’s house is bought and continues to haunt its child owner, until her parents discard it. Years later, it returns. The narrative is as simple as that, and really needed nothing more, yet there were additional pages of interluding years and cars breaking down and all other manner of things that added nothing to the story other than pages. The final few pages also felt a little lacklustre and tempered any rising tension that had managed to build up, throughout.
A sinister doll’s house is bought and continues to haunt its child owner, until her parents discard it. Years later, it returns. The narrative is as simple as that, and really needed nothing more, yet there were additional pages of interluding years and cars breaking down and all other manner of things that added nothing to the story other than pages. The final few pages also felt a little lacklustre and tempered any rising tension that had managed to build up, throughout.
January 17, 2021
I love a good, horror or creepy story and the reviews here tempted me so.
Finished this in record time and I had hoped for a more sinister, 'wow' kinda ending that comes with short, twisted stories.
The plot is simple enough; a girl asked for a huge mansion with dolls inside at an odd shop selling knick knacks. Since bringing it home, it has been giving her haunted dreams (honestly, I didn't find the description of the dreams that haunting). Soon, she went away to college and neglected the house. Came back years later, and the forgotten house was sold for funds. After that, her dad died in an accident, her mum went back to Germany, her brother became a priest. Quite suddenly, the next paragraph shows her navigating her way around lost woods and encountered an exact replica of the house in real life. The dolls welcomed her and blamed the neglect on their landlord who didn't take care of them, even showing her a picture of herself as a child with a needle in her heart.
In the end, they let her leave. I was rooting for an ending where she was trapped in her house and became a doll herself or becoming one of the gemstone sisters! Gemstone sisters as they were all named after precious stones. Or, maybe she was trapped there to re-live a horrifying fate?
Lack-luster ending but a good short read, deserving of 4 stars.
Finished this in record time and I had hoped for a more sinister, 'wow' kinda ending that comes with short, twisted stories.
The plot is simple enough; a girl asked for a huge mansion with dolls inside at an odd shop selling knick knacks. Since bringing it home, it has been giving her haunted dreams (honestly, I didn't find the description of the dreams that haunting). Soon, she went away to college and neglected the house. Came back years later, and the forgotten house was sold for funds. After that, her dad died in an accident, her mum went back to Germany, her brother became a priest. Quite suddenly, the next paragraph shows her navigating her way around lost woods and encountered an exact replica of the house in real life. The dolls welcomed her and blamed the neglect on their landlord who didn't take care of them, even showing her a picture of herself as a child with a needle in her heart.
In the end, they let her leave. I was rooting for an ending where she was trapped in her house and became a doll herself or becoming one of the gemstone sisters! Gemstone sisters as they were all named after precious stones. Or, maybe she was trapped there to re-live a horrifying fate?
Lack-luster ending but a good short read, deserving of 4 stars.
November 5, 2022
Good horror stories seem to evade me.
March 30, 2019
3.5/5
February 17, 2022
This story is brief, more like a short story.
A family's car breaks down and they end up browsing in a toy store while their car gets fixed. They end up buying a doll house for their daughter.
The story is told in the first person from the daughter's perspective. As she describes the house and her life we learn about her family members: The father is a bit of a lout and cannot keep a job. Her mother is German and supports the family by teaching English in several schools. Her brother is an intellectual with his nose usually buried in a book.
We soon learn that this house is not just a plaything. For one thing, it is occupied by dolls that seem to be alive. The girl starts having strange dreams, where the dolls seem to play a role. When she wakes she is sure she hears them walking down the hall.
The daughter becomes so terrified of the house and its occupants that her parents finally get rid of it.
However, later as an adult, she discovers that she cannot completely escape the house or her dreams as one of them seems to come true.
A strange little tale and the most interesting aspect for me was the development of each family member. The doll house provides an element of horror, but the real people were more poignant.
A family's car breaks down and they end up browsing in a toy store while their car gets fixed. They end up buying a doll house for their daughter.
The story is told in the first person from the daughter's perspective. As she describes the house and her life we learn about her family members: The father is a bit of a lout and cannot keep a job. Her mother is German and supports the family by teaching English in several schools. Her brother is an intellectual with his nose usually buried in a book.
We soon learn that this house is not just a plaything. For one thing, it is occupied by dolls that seem to be alive. The girl starts having strange dreams, where the dolls seem to play a role. When she wakes she is sure she hears them walking down the hall.
The daughter becomes so terrified of the house and its occupants that her parents finally get rid of it.
However, later as an adult, she discovers that she cannot completely escape the house or her dreams as one of them seems to come true.
A strange little tale and the most interesting aspect for me was the development of each family member. The doll house provides an element of horror, but the real people were more poignant.
September 15, 2019
One of the Faber Stories range, this novelette sees a woman reflect on the strange, ornamental dollhouse that both fascinated and disturbed her as a child. Now, as an adult, she stumbles upon a secluded mansion that seems to be an exact replica.
This is another example of a fantastically well-realised concept, and a disturbing tableau that draws on horror conventions to great effect. The prose is solid and the atmosphere builds well towards the heroine’s final confrontation with her own nightmares. Again, I felt the ending could have had a little more impact, rather than the quiet fizzling out we were given, but as far as literary horror goes, and the creation of imagery that will linger in the mind, this is a great little contribution to the genre. Just be prepared for the kind of story that poses questions more than it offers answers.
This is another example of a fantastically well-realised concept, and a disturbing tableau that draws on horror conventions to great effect. The prose is solid and the atmosphere builds well towards the heroine’s final confrontation with her own nightmares. Again, I felt the ending could have had a little more impact, rather than the quiet fizzling out we were given, but as far as literary horror goes, and the creation of imagery that will linger in the mind, this is a great little contribution to the genre. Just be prepared for the kind of story that poses questions more than it offers answers.
August 30, 2022
This is another of the Faber90 books and I have to say that I did struggle with this one - I think it was the language used which I did not connect with (although I will admit it added to the atmosphere of the story).
This is one of those stories that seems innocent enough and yet leads to all sorts of ideas and possibilities - there is nothing violent or gratuitous, it is more what is implied that has the greatest impact.
That said the impact of the story was not lost on me (it is very reminiscent of the "spooky tales" I used to read at a child) and is a perfect example of the genre. The whole tale is laid out and it is your imagination that does the rest.
This short story collection truly does show the breadth of Fabers publishing prowess and revisits some of its more famous publications in the process.
This is one of those stories that seems innocent enough and yet leads to all sorts of ideas and possibilities - there is nothing violent or gratuitous, it is more what is implied that has the greatest impact.
That said the impact of the story was not lost on me (it is very reminiscent of the "spooky tales" I used to read at a child) and is a perfect example of the genre. The whole tale is laid out and it is your imagination that does the rest.
This short story collection truly does show the breadth of Fabers publishing prowess and revisits some of its more famous publications in the process.
May 5, 2021
Knjižica koja me je privukla svojom "Stranger Things"-astom naslovnicom je bila baš dovoljna količina jezivog, ali s mlakim krajem. Imam utisak da mi je nešto promaklo, a kako sam ispisala preko 30 nepoznatih reči, radujem se ponovnom čitanju.
January 4, 2023
This is a story which can be appreciated in different ways.
In the 1920s a young girl, Lene, chooses an old and decrepit dolls’ house as a present from a rundown toy shop. Only when she gets home does she find that the dolls within are inaccessible.
Aickman epitomises weird fiction.
This is a pretty normal scenario, with no overtures to horror, yet from the outset it is unnerving. The intricate work that goes on into constructing a miniature house and the tiny replicas of people visible within is something I have always found deeply unsettling.
In Lene’s case, this uncanny object confuses her consciousness and begins to enter her dreams.
Aickman is careful with his boundaries, he never lets the story descend into farce. To the reader as well as Lene, the miniature house is alive, yet at no stage in the telling has the story become implausible.
It is Aickman at his best.
In the 1920s a young girl, Lene, chooses an old and decrepit dolls’ house as a present from a rundown toy shop. Only when she gets home does she find that the dolls within are inaccessible.
Aickman epitomises weird fiction.
This is a pretty normal scenario, with no overtures to horror, yet from the outset it is unnerving. The intricate work that goes on into constructing a miniature house and the tiny replicas of people visible within is something I have always found deeply unsettling.
In Lene’s case, this uncanny object confuses her consciousness and begins to enter her dreams.
Aickman is careful with his boundaries, he never lets the story descend into farce. To the reader as well as Lene, the miniature house is alive, yet at no stage in the telling has the story become implausible.
It is Aickman at his best.
May 4, 2021
This was my first foray into the world of Robert Aickman. I wanted to see if I'd enjoy him before committing to one of his short story collections, which, YES, I will be doing.
This was so creepy, so odd...there was so much left unsaid and that, in my opinion, made it even creepier. Cannot wait to read more by him!
This was so creepy, so odd...there was so much left unsaid and that, in my opinion, made it even creepier. Cannot wait to read more by him!
August 8, 2013
The story that first got me hooked on Aickman, and is still my favourite. First encountered it in a collection of "favourite" horror stories by established horror authors. This one was Peter Straub's choice. A perfectly unsettling story that will haunt your own inner room for the rest of your life.
October 1, 2021
Despite the blurb, this is hardly one of Aickman's "most magnificent" strange stories. (But my ebook only has 40 pages, not the 80 promised in the database entry, so maybe there's a more magnificent extended version on paper; I doubt it.)
I've managed to forget that I've read the story in the collection The Wine-Dark Sea. I would usually remember a story about doll houses and architectural anomalies. Maybe the rest of the collection was such a drag that I fell asleep.
But "The Inner Room" is still worth checking out. Aickman's prose is a pleasure, and the uncanny elements are quite unsettling. The exposition is rather verbose for Aickman, unfortunately. And don't read the blurb with the spoilers.
I've managed to forget that I've read the story in the collection The Wine-Dark Sea. I would usually remember a story about doll houses and architectural anomalies. Maybe the rest of the collection was such a drag that I fell asleep.
But "The Inner Room" is still worth checking out. Aickman's prose is a pleasure, and the uncanny elements are quite unsettling. The exposition is rather verbose for Aickman, unfortunately. And don't read the blurb with the spoilers.
February 3, 2021
3.5*
Prvi susret sa Ejkmanom i veoma mi se dopala priča. Dovoljno gotička i jeziva za priču koja se vrti oko (uklete) kuće za lutke, ali mi je na kraju zafalio strašniji momenat koji bi opravdao tenziju koja se sve vreme gradila.
Prvi susret sa Ejkmanom i veoma mi se dopala priča. Dovoljno gotička i jeziva za priču koja se vrti oko (uklete) kuće za lutke, ali mi je na kraju zafalio strašniji momenat koji bi opravdao tenziju koja se sve vreme gradila.
March 24, 2011
"Once upon a time there was a very beautiful doll's-house; it was red brick with white windows, and it had real muslin curtains and a front door and a chimney.
It belonged to two Dolls called Lucinda and Jane; at least it belonged to Lucinda, but she never ordered meals.
Jane was the Cook; but she never did any cooking, because the dinner had been bought ready-made, in a box full of shavings.
There were two red lobsters and a ham, a fish, a pudding, and some pears and oranges.
They would not come off the plates, but they were extremely beautiful."
The Tale of Two Bad Mice, by Beatrix Potter
Thanks the Keegan and Lauren for this gem. Honestly one of the more disturbing short stories that I have read. It re-conjured the terror I felt when reading the quoted B. Potter story as a child. A doll's house is a creepy thing. A very very creepy thing indeed.
It belonged to two Dolls called Lucinda and Jane; at least it belonged to Lucinda, but she never ordered meals.
Jane was the Cook; but she never did any cooking, because the dinner had been bought ready-made, in a box full of shavings.
There were two red lobsters and a ham, a fish, a pudding, and some pears and oranges.
They would not come off the plates, but they were extremely beautiful."
The Tale of Two Bad Mice, by Beatrix Potter
Thanks the Keegan and Lauren for this gem. Honestly one of the more disturbing short stories that I have read. It re-conjured the terror I felt when reading the quoted B. Potter story as a child. A doll's house is a creepy thing. A very very creepy thing indeed.
January 6, 2019
Aickman doing what Aickman does best: destroying you with an unsettling, off key atmosphere and something unseen and unnatural lurking at the peripheries. Add in dolls and I’m legging it out my front door!
February 22, 2019
It had its creepy moments, especially toward the end, but overall I was disappointed by the lack of explanation/revelation and there were parts where I really had to force myself to focus on the writing and not drift off.
September 25, 2023
3.6
Strange, unsettling, creepy. I think there's a decent bit of background and detail packed into this, especially for a short story. The ending seemed a bit abrupt and it didn't really suit the dream-like/unnatural world that Aickman brought us into, but overall I think this is a good little creepy story.
Strange, unsettling, creepy. I think there's a decent bit of background and detail packed into this, especially for a short story. The ending seemed a bit abrupt and it didn't really suit the dream-like/unnatural world that Aickman brought us into, but overall I think this is a good little creepy story.
August 1, 2024
A creepy little story that I enjoyed quite a bit.
March 30, 2019
Robert Aickman was born in 1914 and published his first collection of ‘strange stories’ in 1951. He went on to publish seven more volumes of them.
In this story we begin in the early 1920s when the two children are young. The family car breaks down and instead of a journey to the sea-side as promised, they are taken to a toy-shop. The description of the shop is bleak and creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. “It was not merely an out-of-fashion shop, but a shop that at best sold too much of what no one wanted.” Since it is Lene’s birthday, she is asked to choose a present.
She finds an enormous dolls’ house. “It had battlements, and long straight walls, and a variety of pointed windows. A gothic revival house, no doubt; or even mansion. It was painted the colour of stone; a grey stone darker than the grey light, which flicked around it. There was a two-leaved front door, with a small classical portico.”
It is a huge dolls’ house and men are sent to collect it from the store.
When it arrives at Lene’s home, she is unable to open the building, all she can do is to look through the windows at the shabby interiors where a number of dolls are sitting in one room, looking away from her. She names the rooms and describes their contents.
Some time later Lene’s older brother tries to figure out the plan of the building and discovers that there must be a room in the centre that they cannot see. Soon after the house vanishes from their life and is never mentioned again.
Now we move forwards, some thirty years. Lene has followed a career as a dancer, married and lost her husband in the second war. She is travelling in a remote part of the country and decides to take a short cut one evening as the light begins to fade. She crosses fields and climbs gates, but eventually finds herself crossing a marsh and heading for the woods on the other side. Thunder begins to threaten and rain falls. As she pushes through the woods, she comes to a real house, just like her childhood dolls’ house. It looks deserted and abandoned, but as she shelters from the rain under the portico, the doors open and she is invited in by one of the now life size dolls.
At this point the reader’s sense of unease begins to rise. The building is dangerous, the floors are rotten and the dolls blame the landlord for not caring. It becomes clear that they see Lene as that uncaring owner, and they begin to gather around her. I was expecting something terrible to happen, but they let her leave and the story ends. The reader is left with this terrible alarm at everything that has happened, but no sense of what could happen next.
In this story we begin in the early 1920s when the two children are young. The family car breaks down and instead of a journey to the sea-side as promised, they are taken to a toy-shop. The description of the shop is bleak and creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. “It was not merely an out-of-fashion shop, but a shop that at best sold too much of what no one wanted.” Since it is Lene’s birthday, she is asked to choose a present.
She finds an enormous dolls’ house. “It had battlements, and long straight walls, and a variety of pointed windows. A gothic revival house, no doubt; or even mansion. It was painted the colour of stone; a grey stone darker than the grey light, which flicked around it. There was a two-leaved front door, with a small classical portico.”
It is a huge dolls’ house and men are sent to collect it from the store.
When it arrives at Lene’s home, she is unable to open the building, all she can do is to look through the windows at the shabby interiors where a number of dolls are sitting in one room, looking away from her. She names the rooms and describes their contents.
Some time later Lene’s older brother tries to figure out the plan of the building and discovers that there must be a room in the centre that they cannot see. Soon after the house vanishes from their life and is never mentioned again.
Now we move forwards, some thirty years. Lene has followed a career as a dancer, married and lost her husband in the second war. She is travelling in a remote part of the country and decides to take a short cut one evening as the light begins to fade. She crosses fields and climbs gates, but eventually finds herself crossing a marsh and heading for the woods on the other side. Thunder begins to threaten and rain falls. As she pushes through the woods, she comes to a real house, just like her childhood dolls’ house. It looks deserted and abandoned, but as she shelters from the rain under the portico, the doors open and she is invited in by one of the now life size dolls.
At this point the reader’s sense of unease begins to rise. The building is dangerous, the floors are rotten and the dolls blame the landlord for not caring. It becomes clear that they see Lene as that uncaring owner, and they begin to gather around her. I was expecting something terrible to happen, but they let her leave and the story ends. The reader is left with this terrible alarm at everything that has happened, but no sense of what could happen next.
June 1, 2019
This story was originally published in 1988 in a collection of "strange stories," and "strange" is certainly an apt descriptor for this one. It's about a girl who is given a dollhouse that does not open and which inspires some bizarre dreams/experiences. Years later, the same character has a very different encounter with the same house.
Though eagerly awaiting the appearance of the dollhouse and the hallucinations/dreams/supernatural elements mentioned in the story's synopsis, I found the story slow to start. I thought the beginning scenes could have been abbreviated much further without losing anything, but it's possible that the family's background and their car trouble has more importance than I grasped.
But by the end, I quite liked this weird little tale and was also sufficiently creeped out by its implication, which I consider a success. Gothic narratives are so eerie and fun, and despite the slow build-up I appreciated the way it all came together in the end. My only disappointment was wanting to know more about the dollhouse. Where it had come from, where it went after it left the girl's possession, why her mother reacted to it the way that she did. But these questions didn't seem vital to the Point of this story and did not particularly affect my overall enjoyment.
Though eagerly awaiting the appearance of the dollhouse and the hallucinations/dreams/supernatural elements mentioned in the story's synopsis, I found the story slow to start. I thought the beginning scenes could have been abbreviated much further without losing anything, but it's possible that the family's background and their car trouble has more importance than I grasped.
But by the end, I quite liked this weird little tale and was also sufficiently creeped out by its implication, which I consider a success. Gothic narratives are so eerie and fun, and despite the slow build-up I appreciated the way it all came together in the end. My only disappointment was wanting to know more about the dollhouse. Where it had come from, where it went after it left the girl's possession, why her mother reacted to it the way that she did. But these questions didn't seem vital to the Point of this story and did not particularly affect my overall enjoyment.
January 3, 2013
One of the best short stories ever written, surely ...
March 5, 2019
This made me squeal ! It is creepy to no end, a perfect short story, truly, even though the ending is not as... morbid as I might have hoped for.
May 26, 2020
I am not sure why I can't stop thinking about Shirley Jackson while reading this novelette. Probably because I think she can write a better scary story?
April 27, 2024
A strange little tale with slow pace, and an anti-climactic ending. It offered an eerie plot that seems it would become a creepy premise, but this did not feel fully realised.
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