*I received a free review copy of this novel via NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

This book is an intense read, rather than a quick or easy one.

The reader is plunged deep into a world of magical realism in the form of the wondrous Emporium and its amazing toy displays, but as we follow Cathy into the Godman family’s domain we find that the cloud castles and flying reindeer are covering a darker path of war and betrayal; both historical and personal.

It feels like there are multiple books contained under one cover, from the fairytale opening night at first frost, through the realities of the trenches and shell-shock, to a slow creeping deterioration, which could be seen to reflect a personal journey from the wonders of childhood, through harsh adult reality, to the slow, sad, nostalgic slide into old age.

The layers of symbolism, laced together with the magical realism, are reminiscent of both The Night Circus and The Miniaturist, both of which this book has been compared to, and the books do all share the same eerily dreamlike style and atmosphere.

I found that my engagement with the characters was at an intellectual level, rather than an emotional one, so whilst I empathised with their struggles and hopes, I was not personally invested in the outcomes, and was happy to simply ride the story through to the end as an interested observer. I believe that this is a function of the detached, almost formal, voice of the author, even when inside his characters’ point of view.

Definitely recommended to fans of Erin Morgenstern and Jessie Burton, who like their stories to be exquisitely crafted, historically based, fantastical fancies with a deeper moral-philosophical underpinning.


These simple toy soldiers, these lifelike recreations on which the Emporium has built its Empire, these playthings that have sat upon the shelves for as long as the store has existed, who have provided generations of boys with untold delights, have, for the very first time, lain down their arms.
‘They have surrendered,’ she whispers….

– Robert Dinsdale, The Toymakers

(Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog)

This is a magical book.. After finishing it I had to check whether it was just adult fiction alongside a sci-fi and fantasy genre as it could well - with some adaptions- make a wonderful children's book.
It is 1917 at the annual opening of Papa Jack's Emporium- a toy shop like no other - in a hidden alleyway of London. As the first frost hits the city the Emporium opens its doors to a building like the Tardis, which is so much bigger and so so much more enchanting than it appears from outside. We see the magic of the customers, children and grown ups alike alongside the shop assistants and the main toymaker Papa Jack and his two sons Kaspar and Emil.
Then we are taken back to 1907 and the life of Cathy Wray - young and pregnant- and being threatened by her family to have her child taken away after its birth because of the shame of her relationship with the some one who would never marry her. Cathy's sister Lizzie brings a newspaper in which an advertisement looking for staff for The Emporium attracts Cathy and she runs away to London.
Soon, her life and that of her unborn child are tied together to the two brothers and the yearly patterns of preparing the toys for sale each Christmas.
But the world is encircling them with war and prejudice that threatens Cathy's newly adopted family and the magic of the toys that are made within the Emporium's workshops.
There are definite hints towards Erin Mortengstern's 'The Night Circus' in this novel but that is no bad thing. The characters are truly believable even if the circumstances in which their lives are revealed are pure fantasy. As the film 'Toy Story' proved and as many children believe when the adults are asleep what truly happens to the toys that have been made with love and are played with by excited young imaginations!
The backdrop of the wars and the challenges of the past lives of the the Godman family, that live hidden in the Emporium, but that brought them originally to London are as poignant as any other tales from immigrants who escaped the threat of death and persecution, not only then in 1914 and 1939 but even today.
It is a tale of hope and when you as a reader suspend today's realities and prepare your imagination to grasp the magic can certainly bring more than a flavour of childhood dreams to the most cynical of minds.
I see this isn't the first novel by this author and I'd be tempted to try some others.

Welcome to my first favorite book of the year. I know it’s kinda early still to say something like that because by the end I always have way too many, but this, I’m sure, it will be one of them. You guys have no idea how much I loved this book! I hadn’t even heard of it, but it was recommended to me and I decided to try it out. This was AMAZING!

The Toymakers is quite a complex and interesting story set in London. It goes from 1907 until 1953. So the whole story happens during both of the World Wars. They have a big impact in this book and I really like that the timeline was so long, since we were able to follow our main character since she was a teenager until she was a grandmother. It just made it all even more special, you know what I mean? I feel that often the only way we know so much about a character is that it’s a series and as just a standalone, this book did something I never even thought I wanted… It made me connect with the character on a whole other level and somehow I really felt part of the story.

Cathy Wray is our main character and she is just 16 years old when we meet her. She was desperate when she reached Papa Jack’s Toy Emporium, and she got a job there. I’m trying not to give much away since this is quite a complex story, and a lot of things happen but, the thing about the Emporium is that it only opens from first frost, until the first snowdrop blooms. And everyone that came to work there, then go away, the exception being, of course, Papa Jack and his two sons, Kaspar and Emil. But Cathy stays and we see her live evolving and all the magic behind the Emporium’s doors.

Papa Jack’s Toy Emporium is a fascinating place, full of magic, happiness, and possibilities. It will make you nostalgic; it will make you reach for your inner child and throw yourself into all the fascinating things happening; best of all, it will make you believe. Believe in the extraordinary and in everything you miss from your childhood. It’s a place you will wish to have visited. For I sure do.

I can’t make it justice to how unbelievably beautiful this book is, but I really urge you to read it. It’s full of magic both ordinary and extraordinary, it’s full of hope, love, and emotions and by the end, you will not believe in what you’ve read. Everything in here is unexpected and a lot less fluffy than I first thought it was going to be. It’s a sweet book but it also has a realistic and hard part to it – especially the war parts – and those are really hard-hitting to read because you get used to living in that amazing wonderland.

I loved the characters, how different they were, but how well they complemented each other. How they let their inner child live so fully, how they saw the world in a totally different light and how much they meant to me. You just really got engrossed in the story and it was impossible not to care for all the characters, even the dog is special for me!

The writing was truly beautiful, it sucks you in… It just grips you… I couldn’t stop reading, if I hadn’t had stuff to do I believe I would have read this in one sitting. It really touched me and made me feel tons of emotions. It even made me cry… Although yeah, I do cry easily but still, it was tense and unexpected and just… Ahh… Read it!!

Also, I feel that I should say that among other things, this book talks about PTS (post-traumatic stress) and how war changes people, teenage-pregnancy, family issues, in case someone is sensitive to any of those topics. I feel that they were talked about with great care and in a slightly realistic way, because I mean, we are talking about a magical toy store… But even the magic was believable and beautiful! This was the best magical realism I’ve read.

This was an amazingly beautiful book. If you like magical realism and historical fiction conjoined, this is the book for you. But I believe that anyone would enjoy this book. It will transport you to when you were a child and it will just make everything possible! Highly recommend it!

Reviewers have said this book was perfect for lovers of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern or Caraval by Stephanie Garber. They're not kidding. Magical realism in its droves; toys, mysterious job adverts, frost, Christmas, and a Dickensian London. You had me at hello.

A book of time travel, back to historical London, back to your childhood, back to Christmas, The Toymakers is a story about brotherly ties, childhood, the gift of magic, shelter in times of need, trust and of course, love.

Time and space are different inside Papa Jack's Emporium.

Cathy Wray is 15 years old and pregnant. Faced with the prospect of giving up her baby, she runs away to the Emporium to work for Christmas. Instead of finding shelter and work for the Christmas season, she finds a home and a family.

Emil and Kasper are brothers competing for their Papa's respect. With Kasper finding it easier to reproduce the magic that his father creates, Emil feels as though he is constantly playing catch up. Despite this, together they make Cathy a home, and slowly show her and then bring her into the Emporium magic.

The Emporium opens at the first frost of the season and closes with the first snowdrop.

The author winds magic through the spaces between the lines, in the small spaces we see in the corner of our eyes, where our childhood sits and with it, our belief that anything can happen. The reader is quickly drawn into this world effortlessly, and taken on a pathway through the aisles of the Emporium.

Themes: magic, toys, childhood, love, trust, brotherly competition

Thanks to Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing and Netgalley for my free ARC.

It doesn’t matter how young or old we are – isn’t there always something magical about a toyshop? Well, there’s never been a toyshop as magical as Papa Jack’s Emporium, a wonderfully enchanted establishment that sits in a quiet mews in the heart of London’s Mayfair and is open only from the night of the first frost to the flowering of the first snowdrop.

Papa Jack runs the Emporium with his two young sons, Kaspar and Emil. Together they create marvellous toys that defy imagination – patchwork animals that seem to be alive, cloud castles and instant trees, model soldiers that actually fight their own battles… although it seems small on the outside, the Emporium is a cavernous place with many shelves and many floors and the latest person to enter here, a young runaway called Cathy Wray, is going to change it forever. When Cathy takes a job at the Emporium she becomes the object of affection for both Papa Jack’s sons, but when the First World War rages and Kaspar is called to the battlefield, not even the old man’s magic can hold off the horrors of the outside or protect the Emporium’s stock of childhood innocence.

Like all the best magical-realism, The Toymakers walks that fine line between touching the readers heart with some glorious Hans Christian Andersen-like fantasy and then breaking the readers heart whenever reality encroaches and the fantasy is threatened. It’s a story that seems tailor-made for Christmas but avoids mawkish sentimentality, and although it begins like a celebration of everything that’s good about the festive season it does take some decidedly Dickensian turns into the darkness as we follow the fates of Cathy and Papa Jack etc. from pre-WW1 and into the decades that follow. In fact, the novel’s old fashioned-ness is a major part of its charm. Robert Dinsdale’s storytelling is terrific and his narrative frequently takes turns we would never have expected, even if the midpoint shift in tone is a little jarring and the conclusion is a bit heavy on the metaphor. Still, that’s a small criticism for an unashamedly feel-good Christmas story that will put a smile (and maybe even a tear in the eye) on even the most jaded reader’s face.

The book surprised me. I didn't read too much of the synopsis so was just going into it as a magical book shop. Has a lot more levels than that, each of them as interesting and charming as the others. The only thing I will say is I definitely want to get myself a toy soldier army.

I loved this book! It felt so magical - the characters were wonderful and the story kept me hooked all the way through. It covered everything from love, hope, friendship and I could not put this down!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Robert Dinsdale for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had all the elements that I expected to love - a toy shop at the start of the 20th century in London with plenty of magic and interesting characters. I was looking forward to curling up in front of the fire on dark January day and get lost in the fantasy of this magical book but it just work out for me.

The year is 1906 and Cathy, aged 16 and pregnant, sees an ad for Papa John's Toy Emporium in London which offers employment as well as board and lodgings. If she stays in her family she knows her baby will be taken away from her and her parents are already shunning her so she runs away to aply for the job.

She is quickly employed by Papa John and settles into the magical world of the toyshop where Instant Trees create forests in the vast interior of the shop and Patchwork Animals come to life. Papa John and his sons, Kaspar and Emil, create all kinds of amazing toys each summer when the shop is closed. It only opens at the first frost and closes as soon as the first snowdrop appears. What a wonderful concept!

The tale started off well but for me it got bogged down in tales of war and soldiers. Brothers Kaspar and Emil are in constant competition with one another which dominates every minute of their lives. They compete over Cathy, over making the best toy ever, over their father's love. They constantly play the Long War with toy soldiers battling just as they do. As the younger sibling Emil always feels inferior to Kaspar and is constantly trying to prove himself. Emil creates a special toy soldier, the first of which he names the Imperial Kapitan.

In 1914 the Great War, now known as the First World War, intervenes in life outside the Toy Emporium and the battle between the brothers becomes even more complex and dark. The Imperial Kapitan and myriads of toy soldiers dominate the latter half of the book. I was hoping for a fantasy novel – ‘Willy Wonka meets Hugo’ type of setting - so I found the recurrent war theme too dark. I do think this book would translate into a great movie though.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyable, well written book. Happy and sad all the way through and subtle twists. Harry Potter meets The Wizard of Oz and much more. What’s not to like as light fiction.

The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale is a magical book and one that I would highly recommend.

“The Emporium opens with the first frost of winter. It is the same every year. Across the city, when children wake to see fans of white stretched across their windows, or walk to school to hear ice cracking underfoot, the whispers begin: the Emporium is open! Christmas is coming”

Papa Jack’s emporium is a place of wonder for children and adults alike. The opening night is an eagerly anticipated and much talked about event and people young and old have fond memories of the shop.

When we first meet Cathy she has no knowledge of the Emporium and the magic it can bring into people’s lives but all that is about to change.

Cathy is taken by her mother to a place in Dovercourt to sell her unborn child. It is November of 1906 and Cathy is just 15 years old.

Cathy had sex for the first time with a boy she had been friends with since childhood and immediately after they decided it was something they didn’t want to do again. She didn’t even know she was pregnant until her mother noticed that she was late and came to talk to her.

The proprietor of the home in which she is expected to relinquish her child is an unfriendly woman to say the least and clearly looks down on Cathy and girls in her condition.

“Catherine, understand that, what we do here, we do for the very best. Your baby will rise from the shame of it’s beginnings and find a new, better life.”

After the meeting Cathy’s mother will barely look at her and sends her straight to her room telling her that she will no longer be going to school and she will only be allowed to go into the garden with her mother’s permission.

Her sister Lizzy sneaks into her room later that day and hugs her while she cries. She sneaks in a copy of the local paper and hidden inside is one of their favourite books: Gulliver’s Travels.

When her sister leaves she realises that the paper has fallen open on the advertisements and that one of them is circled.

“Help wanted.

Are you lost? Are you afraid? Are you a child at heart?

So are we.

The Emporium opens with the first frost of winter.

Sales and stocking, no experience required.

Bed and bored included.

Apply in person at London’s premier merchant of toys and childhood paraphernalia.

Papa Jack’s Emporium

Iron Duke Mews, London W1K”

After a very sleepless night Cathy ends up deciding to run away to London and try to get a position at the Emporium.

Cathy’s first view of the Emporium shows the reader just how magical it is.

“The aisles were alive, she took a step, stumbled when her foot caught the locomotive of some steam train chugging past. She was turning to miss it when wooden horses cantered past in their jagged rhythms, their Cossack riders reaching out as if to threaten the train gliding by. The aisle that she chose was lined with castles at siege. Some of the dioramas were frozen, with siege towers rolled into place, but others clicked into gear at Cathy’s footfall.”

Cathy is interviewed for the position by Jekabs Godman otherwise known as Papa Jack. Her tells her he has a talent for knowing if people are truly suited for work at the Emporium and he knows she is. She gets shown to the room she will be staying in.

Whilst at the Emporium she learns more about the magical craftmanship involved in making the toys and she gets to make a whole bunch of friends. Among the people she meets are Papa Jack’s sons Emil and Kaspar.

Emil and Kaspar are both talented toymakers and are in constant competition with each other to make the best toys for opening night.

Kaspar is charismatic and has a flair for the dramatic and Emil Is more steady and quiet. Emil is constantly battling with his need to outdo his older brother by creating better toys than him – a task he constantly fails at.

Kaspar and Emil are both intrigued by Cathy not least because she keeps herself to herself and they both sense she is hiding a secret.

Not all is sweetness and light in this book and there were times where it brought me to tears but essentially it is a book full of wonder and the magic of childhood.

This is definitely one of the best books I have read so far this year and one that will make it onto my bookshelf and not just my kindle.

Papa Jack’s toy emporium is a place where young and old flock to buy beautiful handmade magical toys expertly crafted by Papa Jack and his 2 sons Emil and Kasparov. Into their world comes Cathy, pregnant teenage runaway trying desperately to keep the baby her parents want her to give up for adoption. In the emporium she’s nurtured and fought over by the 2 increasingly jealous brothers who want to win both her and the emporium from each other, set against a backdrop of 2 world wars and the decline of their magic. Beautifully written, the book dragged a little in parts and the magical toys definitely required the suspension of disbelief but well worth reading.

A fine piece of magic realism – a little long but very good
This novel takes us from 1906 to 1953 in the life of Papa Jack's Emporium in which toys are miraculously brought to life to the delight of shoppers in the winter months. It is also the story of Cathy Wray who finds herself arriving there in 1906 and her development alongside the Godman family who run the shop.
Generally enlightening and engaging, this book is full of wonders but also melancholy in many ways as things do not go always as expected or as planned. Strong on character development and on magic realism, it is enjoyable but perhaps a little overlong in the second half.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Robert Dinsdale has written a richly detailed and imaginative historical story of the place toys have in the hearts of both children and adults through Papa Jack's Emporium located on Iron Duke Mews in London. It begins in the early part of the 20th century with a pregnant 16 year old Cathy runs away from home to work at the Emporium which offers accommodation. A traumatised Papa Jack Godman began to comprehend the role that toys have for a child and the importance of accessing that childhood innocence and wonder after he spent so many years imprisoned in Siberia. He brings his sons, Kaspar and Emil to London, establishing himself as a master toymaker at the Emporium which operates on different laws on time and space, opening on the first day of frost, through Christmas and closing on the flowering of the first snowdrop. The rest of the year is spent coming up with and making new toys for the coming year. Kaspar and Emil are now toymakers too, their relationship riven with sibling rivalries. This is a dark story of love, family drama, war, loss and magic destined to enthrall.

Both brothers are smitten with Cathy, but she has eyes only for the gifted Kaspar, driven by intense wonder in his toymaking, and the insecure, jealous Emil, pressed down by his never ending worries, never stands a chance. Living in the dream Wendy House with the patchwork dog, Sirius, Cathy gives birth to her daughter, Martha and goes on to marry Kaspar. The Emporium continues to flourish, a place seemingly apart from the rest of the world, until it is rudely reminded that it is a part of a troubled humanity after so many people take against the Godmans with the imminent threat of the Great War. Kasper goes to war, coming back a a devastatingly broken man who has mentally retreated back to the safety of childhood, aided by his music box, and beyond the reach of his family. Emil is now married to Nina and has twin sons, he has sustained the shop through the war years with the toy soldiers he developed to fight The Long War, but cannot understand why his efforts remain unappreciated. A long drawn out war of attrition breaks out between Kaspar and Emil, emanating from their different perspectives and philosophy which has long term implications for the families, the toys and the Emporium. Kaspar leaves and disappears, lost to Cathy and Martha, to all intents and purposes, his beloved daughter.

This glorious novel is related from the perspective of Cathy through the years until she ends up living with Martha and her grandchildren. Dinsdale has a surprise for the reader at the end as it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. This is the kind of novel that will linger long in the psyche after the last page is read. It burrows its way into that part of us that is nourished by our intimate and close connections to toys, its links to childhood innocence, magic and joy, which become a beacon of light in times of desperate need. This is particularly true for those whose lives and minds become infested and broken by the horrors and darkness that lurks within humanity. An unforgettable and sublime book that I recommend highly. Many thanks to Random House Ebury for an ARC.

A wonderful,magical story,oh,how I wanted such a toy shop to be near me,especially over the Christmas period! Patchwork dogs that behave like real dogs,paper birds that fly and roost in straw nests,magical clouds,fairy castles and wooden soldiers are at the heart of this story.
Into this world,comes Cathy Wray,unmarried and pregnant,seeking a safe place to bring up her child. She is made welcome and over the years,she and her daughter experience the highs and lows of this wonderful toy shop.
Emil and Kaspar are the sons of Papa Jack who designs and creates such beautiful toys. Both men are attracted to Cathy,one cares deeply ,but is hesitant,the other wins her heart and hand. The toy soldiers have a central role,both in peace time and during the horrors of war. The question is asked,' do toys matter in war'? ,and the answer is considered most forcibly in the concluding pages.
Jealously and brotherly rivalry combine to making the ending such a heart breaker,but all is resolved and the lineage,we dare to hope,will continue and improve.
This story is pure joy throughout ,Mary Poppins on speed!! It was like being smothered by a comfort blanket,warm and cosy,reassuring and wonderful bygone childhood days. Perfect!!
I found that Cathy was a strong and determined character,grateful for the chance that life had given her,and loyal to both her daughter, Martha, and her husband. The toy soldiers speak of mental illness, PTSD,and how the horrors of war affect families and business relationships. Brotherly love and revenge are considered in great detail, neither has their greatest hour.
I have today posted this review to Goodreads,a brilliant 5 star read.

I thought The Toymakers was amazing.

I feel completely in love with this book, the characters, the sadness, the joy, the magic and the wonder. I was totally absorbed in this book.

The Toymakers is heart-breaking at times, especially when the First World Wat happens. The book is filled with magic and wonder at first as Cathy’s finds a place in the Emporium for herself and her baby.

Things start to get pretty dark when Kasper goes off to war. Emil, the younger brother, the brother who isn’t quite as good, finds himself having to run the Emporium and find a way to keep the magic and wonder alive and keep customers happy. He makes some bad choices and there are terrible prices to pay.

I cried a lot reading The Toymakers. I thought things were going to stay dark but the book ends on a note of hope.

What a beautiful book! Cathy is taken into Papa Jack's emporium, a place where the lost find sanctuary and the believers and the children find magic. We are taken into the world of the emporium and then further in to the worlds that are created within it. There is magic and beauty but there is also rivalry, suffering, war, loss and love. It has everything!
This book is enchanting and captivating to read; the characters are gradually revealed as their layers are uncovered and we take them into our heart. Papa Jack's history is shared with us and we see into the changing relationship between Emil and his brother Kaspar. The toys are characters in themselves, particularly the wonderful Sirius. It is all so beautifully portrayed and in such an evocative, visual way. In fact, some of the book, I went back and re-read almost immediately which is something I very rarely do.

There is very little in life that makes me happier than a book that whisks me away from myself and plonks me right into the midst of a whimsical world of Magic with a Eastern European slant. Admittedly there are not many of those to the Pound.
The Toymakers is a sparkling example of the type though. It is utterly charming. The opening passages quite literally draw you in, down alleys and conduits into the most magical place I have been since my visit to Diagon Alley and a certain bespectacled Wizard.
This is not a book for children, there are some very dark notes in the overall symphony of this plot, but it is, at its very heart a book for the children in all of us. It awakens parts of us that delight in the toys of our youth, the pure uninhibited joy of seeing those simple things that engendered imagination and play in us all.
Set in the time of the gradual fall of the Tsars, beginning in the sharp cold of a London at First Frost, we are thrust into the Emporium, a Toy Shop like no other in the capital, where the toys themselves are imbued with a kind of magic that animates and enlivens them.
Wrapped up in whimsy and wonder, this is a family saga, the tale of a father and his two sons. Siblings in constant rivalry for the approval of their talented,wise and wondrous Father, a man with magic learned not from a school for magic, but that of hard knocks. The story of travels across the steppes of Russia to a Prison work camp where the only joy is in the little scraps of twig and leaf that Jecob conjures to raise a smile in the harshness. Here men are cruel and vicious using each other as punch bags and worse. Where a truth universal , that we are all children wanting the joy of the innocence of play, brings him to England with no money, grasp of the language or prospects. Yet that skill from inciting fond memory and warm thoughts, brings people flocking to the Emporium in droves.
Into his shadow step the two sons left behind as infants during that period of incarceration, caught in a interminable battle, both figurative and literally as they wage war with the legions of toy soldiers that younger brother Emil fashions from wood and paint and lacquer and a smidge of his own magical power, one born of envy ,of self doubt and love.
Brought into conflict more violently when a young girl in a delicate state finds the Emporium the perfect place to hide from disapproving parents, Society and the impending birth. Both siblings take a shine to the lovely young lady. The innocence of childhood soon turns horribly sour and that is only the start.
This is one of the most brilliantly complex and hauntingly beautiful books I have read in an age. It is angry and brutal and then tender and achingly innocent. It was a searing endictment on War and the battles rage on the fields of Flanders, the carpets of a hundred boyhood homes and in the hearts and minds of two brilliantly talented men, whose rivalry drives them further and further into a maelstrom that could destroy everything they were battling to control, on the brink of tainting the purity of the gifts they possess within their hearts and bringing the Emporium crashing into disaster that would destroy forever the joy of play which is the strongest balm for every wounded soldier be they young or old.

This book wasn't what I was expecting. Full review to follow

Not for me. Did not finish. No review to write. I hope others find it more to their taste.

An enchanting story with magic, love and the dark moments. This book is like nothing I’ve ever read before but I was intrigued and drawn in. The characters are vivid and the story flows beautifully. I can recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House UK Ebury Publishing and the author for the chance to review.