The Dollhouse Quotes

“No matter how she had suffered, Darby hadn’t retreated from life after all. In fact, she’d embraced it. Quietly, carefully, but with dignity and love.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“So how did you get into journalism?” “In high school I worked on the paper. Then I majored in journalism in college. I loved collecting facts and then making a story out of them. The perfect combo of science and art. How about you?”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Isn’t she a gem? You never know who you’re going to meet here. Now that you’re living in the greatest city in the world, anything is possible.” Of course that was Stella’s perspective. With her beauty and steady work, she had an independence Darby envied.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“He had loved her, and she had loved him. And life was full of strange and unexpected complications”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Being up so high above the city made her troubles seem less dramatic. Darby”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Courage is easy when the other choices are folding sheets and dealing with guests all day. When you want to get out of a situation fast, you get courage.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Jason: "You’re talking about a bunch of cat women who never moved, never had families. Otherwise they wouldn’t still be there.”
Rose sat back and crossed her arms. “Do not call them cat women. Okay? This kind of thing drives me crazy.” Her words came out short and sharp. “Did you know there are dozens of terrible names for old women? Crone, cat lady, hag, battle-ax. But there’s no male equivalent. Instead, old men are the roosters of their retirement homes, flirting with the scores of women left behind, considered valuable commodities.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“I don’t plan on marrying,” Darby said. “That’s why I’m here, to go to school and learn how to earn my own wage. I don’t want a man to support me.” She remembered the look on Mother’s face, both stricken and triumphant, when Daddy had passed away. The other girls stared at her, dumbstruck, and she tried to explain. “A woman shouldn’t have to depend on a man.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“From the author: My hope is that The Dollhouse will remind all of us how drastically different life was back then for a single girl in the city, and of just how far we’ve come. And how by examining the past, we can continue to challenge traditional assumptions about aging, identity, and what it means to be an independent woman today.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Did you know the Barbizon used to be called the Dollhouse? Can you get more objectifying than that? As if these women were simply playacting until the magical powers of marriage turned them into living, breathing people. I want to humanize them, include photos of when they were young, descriptions of what their lives were like. Just because they don’t look fresh-faced anymore doesn’t mean…that they’ve lost they’re worth as human beings.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“She’d end up like Darby, living in a cave, no family left to worry about her or care for her. When sad-old-lady Rose, homeless and ancient, hobbled down the street, young women would look away quickly, worried that her fate would be theirs.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“What made Rose happiest was sitting in a comfy armchair on a rainy day, reading a good book.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Well, what do you want to know? We only have an hour until Susan and her kids get back from ballet lessons or welding class or wherever the hell they are.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“I think we rely on images far too often these days.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“The drummer thinks he’s more important than anyone else onstage.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Besides, she was always the type to dig in, to nest. What made Rose happiest was sitting in a comfy armchair on a rainy day, reading a good book. Crossing China by train or driving the Mongolian deserts paled in comparison. She was a homebody at heart, like her father. Unsure of”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“All her life she’d been terrified that her father would disappear the way her mother had. That feeling had dissipated as she headed into her teens, but she’d replayed the same game with Griff. Hoping if she said the right thing or presented herself properly, he’d never abandon her.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Intentions are worthless to me.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Don’t you dare project your own fears onto me.” Her nostrils flared. “I reject them. If you’re lonely and scared, you better deal with it now, because life only gets lonelier and scarier, no matter how many people fill your home or your heart. “It’s up to you, sweetheart. Ultimately, you’re on your own.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“The dementia ward had lavender-colored walls and locked doors. A large black carpet had been placed in front of the elevator. One of the nurses explained that most patients in the ward were reluctant to step on it, thinking it was a dark hole, and that kept them from trying to escape.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Did you know there are dozens of terrible names for old women? Crone, cat lady, hag, battle-ax. But there’s no male equivalent.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“When she added that graduates were known for having a “natural physical endowment,” Darby could have sworn she looked right at her, and not in a good way. What the heck did that mean? Pretty? Buxom? She’d pulled her shoulders back and sat up straighter. The classes were tedious, for the most part: typing, shorthand, communication, and spelling tests.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“The apartment she both loved and hated. Loved for its tall French casement windows, for its Wolf range and spacious closets. Loved for the air of promise it held in its baseboards and crown moldings and Bolivian rosewood floors.”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse

“Underneath the rough voice and confidence, Esme was scared as well. Not scared of change, like Darby was, but scared of staying put, staying unchanged. The”
― Fiona Davis, The Dollhouse