I loved this book, it had such a magical feel to it even though it explored the damage caused to soldiers by war. The characters were strong and cleverly drawn.and added to the colourful feel of the book.. I loved the imagination of the author who managed to bring the toys to life in such a delightful way I felt as though I was part of the magic. I think it would make a wonderful film,

Wow, this is truly such a rich, evocative book it is almost impossible to sum it up in to a review that can do it justice; it will be a book that stays with me for a long time and one I can see myself returning to read again and again, which I rarely ever do.

It is a Toy Story for grown ups, encapsulating all the magic emotion and wonder of childhood when toys were more than just toys; dolls, teddy bears, soldiers, were our friends, sometimes the only things that could comfort us and that we would confide in. There are reminders throughout the book that even in isolating loneliness we are never completely alone if we choose to look for the magic. To be able to evoke that depth of enchantment and charm within the pages of this book, yet simultaneously the dark despair and destruction that war brings is quite a talent that Dinsdale absolutely nails.

You are witnessing the events over many years as an observer, invited to see the quite unbelievable sights of the emporium and the way the characters evolve. It all begins with a young girl, Cathy, in an impossible situation she makes a life changing choice and ends up in London, taken in by the Emporium on the opening night of the season. The owner is the mysterious Papa Jack, and his sons Emil and Kaspar. The clockwork dog Sirius was such an endearing character to me, as was the courageous Kapitan. The world of the Emporium is mysterious with a secluded, secretive air not only from the outside world but also inside it's own realm, where there are many hiding places, secrets, and closed doors. Jealousy, misunderstanding, and bitterness breeds in the face of much sacrifice, and when unexpected events change everything it becomes a true battle to find a peace within the emporium walls or risk losing everything.

There is so much I want to say about the ending that I can't without using spoilers, but it is monumental and profoundly astute. I absolutely loved every page of it.

I found the fragile sanctuary of the Toy Emporium and the battles of the main characters an allegory of how in life we grow old and lose our innocence and magic of childhood; we suffer tragedies, loss, illness, some become consumed by materialism, pride, greed, or control; but if we choose to do what's right, to be benevolent, to hold on to what is precious and be brave enough to protect innocence, love and freedom then a little bit of magic can always survive and reincarnate.

This book has been raved about to no end on Instagram, and generally online. However, what caught my attention was a review comparing this to one of my favourite books: The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. I was lucky enough that my request was granted so that I could give this book a go. I originally planned only to read a chapter before bed, but before I knew it I finished the book at 4:30 am and was in love. The raving was for good reason – this book is extraordinary.

You can read my full review on my blog but story is a beautiful one of forgiveness, jealousy, war, family, love, growth, and a touch of magic. Dinsdale explores commentaries on humanity and choice through this magical toyshop that really hit you in the soul. I would recommend it to everyone and I would give it way more stars than just five!

This is an enchanting, well written novel set against the backdrop of WW1. Papa Jack's Toyshop gives refuge to Cathy, a pregnant young woman at odds with her own family because of her pregnancy. The story centres around Cathy, and her relationship with the two brothers, Emil and Kasper, the sons of the owner. At times the story is heartbreaking - and at other times it's uplifting - and I loved it.

Firstly I want to thank Net Gallery for an arc of this book. Release Date: 8th February 2018

Turning the last page of this book was like closing down the lid of my toy box for the last time. I believe we all as children had that one toy that brought our imagination to life, that lifted our spirits with magic and took us away from the cold harsh reality we live in.

The Toymakers marks my first book read of 2018, and it was a poignant one. We open with Cathy, a 16 year old girl who finds herself in an unfortunate situation of being pregnant out of wedlock and being set in the 1800s this is obviously unheard of. Her family mean to keep her locked in the house, and the baby when born given away, however Cathy finds her escape through the means of an advert for shop hands at the Emporium.

This book spans a lifetime filled with magic, tragedy and bittersweet notes of an ending. Travelling through two wars, the Emporium stood the test of time, and really speaks true of what we've lost over the years to change and development. I feel a pang of nostalgia for playing with my toys, setting up adventures around my room which turned into a whole world to trek over to reach safety, meeting foes and friends alike on the way.
The writing is incredibly descriptive reminiscent of Harry Potter, The Night Circus and Enid Blyton. I really enjoyed the pacing and the time skips, however my favourite scenes have to be when the toys come to life down the aisles for all those girls and boys- they were scenes of magic that were written so beautifully I cannot fault them.

I was surprised by this book. Pleasantly so. It reminds me of being a child, it reminds me of the harsh reality of growing up to face the real world. But it also brings a message that we shouldn't forget those toys from our younger years, they are what made us, and they will always be there - in our most vulnerable moments, to make us feel at home.

A wonderful, magical tale set in Papa Jack's emporium, telling his story and that of of his family. brilliantly written, taking the reader to a wonderful land of make believe.

Papa Jack owned the Emporium in London. It was opened on the first frosty day of every winter for the children to see the illuminated garlands in the store. It was like the magic kingdom, full of moving toys such as marching soldiers, roaming animals and moving trains – awing the young visitors.

Papa Jack had two sons, named Kasper and Emil, to whom he gave a set of soldiers who obeyed their commands.

Cathy gave birth to Martha out of wedlock. Her mother tried to give the new baby to the Orphan Home.

One day, Cathy saw an advertisement for an assistant to help Papa Jack at the emporium. So, she ran away from her home, while pregnant with Martha to work at the store where the magical adventure awaited.

This was a lovely story about the family who ran the store in London for nearly fifty years, through the two great wars and had shocking twists nearing the end of the story in the magical “kingdom” of toys. This should be the Christmas movie.

Caesar 13

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I'm actually a little taken aback by how much I really enjoyed this one. I'd heard of Robert Dinsdale's work, in fact, I'd been hankering to read 'Gingerbread' for some time. I was thrilled to be offered the chance to read this book, especially as it felt like such a festive read! Toy shops are certainly the most magical place during Christmas time and I wanted a book that would take me back to my childhood. This certainly did that!

The plot concept of this book was a really good one - set in the enchanting Papa Jack's Emporium, his two sons play a constant, childish game known as 'the long war' representative of their desperation to be the favourite. Cathy Wray's POV makes a lovely 'neutral' viewpoint, and what I loved most of all was that each son was credible in his own way. There's a clear 'good' and 'bad' guy, but at the same time, there sort of isn't. Kaspar IRRITATED me to begin with, and I felt sorry for the often forgotten and downtrodden Emil. As time went on, Kaspar became more sensible and grounded, while Emil grew childish and a little obsessive. Dinsdale did a great job at illustrating the effects that past events, trauma and new characters had on each character (and the Emporium itself, which is very much it's own character too).

I enjoyed everything about this book. The characters were well-constructed, events such as WWI were integrated in a believable way, and many of the twists and turns left me reeling. Especially at the end (I actually audibly gasped when it dawned on me what the toys were trying to tell Cathy, I did NOT see that coming), though I did feel that the way it ended was a little unsatisfying considering the story-long build-up. There are many gorgeous quotes and lessons to be learned about humanity here too, and I adored the toy soldier sub-plot towards the end. Dinsdale's gorgeous writing has very much made it's mark on me. I'll definitely be getting round to 'Gingerbread' a lot sooner!

The book was a surprise and a delight, resonating strongly with me. It had the feel of a late Victorian idyllic Christmas, as well as reminding both of Morgernstern's The Night Circus and that bizarre fairytale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. And yet it isn't really like any of those things, being very much its own book. It is a family sage looking at Kaspar and Emil's struggle for control of the toy Emporium, covering two world wars and beyond. A difficult book to describe, the Toymakers was both enchanting and heart rending. Simply wonderful.

It’s 1917 and pregnant teenager Cathy Wray seeks sanctuary at a London toy store. She soon discovers that these toys are unlike any she’s ever seen before. There’s a clockwork dog that’s devoted to his master, paper trees that grow from seed, and toy soldiers that wage battles on their own. Cathy learns to call The Emporium home, and the people who own it her family. But then the First World War breaks out, and nothing will ever be quite as magical again. Veering from childlike wonderment, to the bleakness of war, The Toymakers is a must for fans of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus.

I was looking forward to this book about a magical Christmas Emporium that opens at the first frost and closes at the first snowdrop, and sells all kinds of amazing toys.
Cathy, a pregnant teenage runaway comes to work there, and stays, living in a Wendy house that is bigger on the inside than the outside.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the toys, and loved Sirius the patchwork dog. Papa Jack, the owner had a tragic back story which was beautifully told, and explained his love of toys.

But, I just couldn’t believe in Cathy, and the brothers Emil and Kaspar, who were waging a toy soldier war against each other, and by the time I got halfway through, I had lost all interest, and didn’t even read ahead to the end.
A potentially good book, but not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Truly magical!! Absorbing and intricate tale which wraps itself around you and draws you in. From the very nature of the toy shop which opens at the first frost, everything about this story is a little bit special. The only part that didn’t work for me was when there was a battle of good vs evil (very allegorical) which I thought was going to become rather religious or instructive (as in CS Lewis’ books)... but as it wasn’t the ending as I had suspected, this was almost forgotten in the next phase of the book.

Stunningly descriptive and imaginative, this magical book will not appeal to everyone. But it is a delight for those who are open to being charmed by its tale.

5* - a book I will remember for a long time to come...

I was immediately drawn to the striking cover of The Toymakers and decided to read this on the run up to Christmas to inject a little magic into my life. I didn't expect to feel so emotional at the end but the power of Robert Dinsdale's writing clearly worked its way into my heart like a toy soldier scaling a battlement. Don't be mistaken: this is not solely a magical feel-good story, it is mainly set during World War I so be prepared for loss and devastation but you can forget about it for a while when you enter Papa Jack's Emporium.

The Emporium is hidden away down a side street in London and you could easily walk past it, if you didn't know it was there. This magical toy shop opens at first frost and closes as the first snowdrop flowers but in the short time it is open you can find every toy imaginable in its four walls, but even more toys that you could never have imagined. Papa Jack and his sons, Kaspar and Emil, create all the toys themselves and there's quite a rivalry between the boys as to whose toys are the best.

Cathy Wray is drawn to the Emporium after she sees an advert in the newspaper, just when she thought she could not escape her predicament. So she runs away from home and starts a job in the Emporium, but when the first snowdrop flowers she has nowhere to go and hides in the wendy house in the Emporium. Both brothers find her at different times and keep it a secret from each other as their rivalry extends to who will win Cathy's heart. After the war, this intense rivalry threatens to be the downfall of the Emporium when Kaspar meddles with Emil's precious toy soldiers...the toy soldiers don't want to fight anymore and seem to have minds of their own. Can the Emporium ever survive when Kaspar, Emil and thousands of toy soldiers are at loggerheads and Hitler's bombs are flying overhead?

Let your imagination run wild and expect the unexpected in The Toymakers. My imagination went into overdrive and I thought of those horrific Chucky movies as the toy soldiers were scuttling about all over the place. I found it terribly heartbreaking as the horrors of the First World War were touched on and hoped the soldiers had somebody like Kaspar in the trenches with them to give them some comfort.

The Toymakers wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The Emporium is painted in such glorious colour through the magical prose that I felt as if I was visiting it myself. I think The Toymakers is a little like the Emporium itself, it's only going to be enjoyable to those who believe in magic but know that the big bad world is right outside the door.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

This is the most amazing book I have read.
It works on so many levels.lt brings out the childhood in the reader and transports the reader back to their childhood memories when one Is discovering the world and all it has to offer and ones imagination has no limits.
It deals with sibling rivalry and how if let to fester it can become destructive and macabre,
Set against the First World War it acts as an allegory with the long war the children in the emporium played out with the toy soldiers and what was happening in real life.
It deals with all human emotions love, greed, jealousy making it very thought provoking.
A masterpiece most likely the book of 2018. I cannot praise it enough.
People who like to analyse books will read so much into it as a social commentary of that time.

This is a magical tale of the powers of the imagination. I was captivated by the description of the Emporium. There’s such a clever parallel between the wonder within and the horror without (the World Wars) that brings a poignancy to the novel. Admittedly, in the latter third my interest started to wain slightly, but that just reflects how time feels to the characters themselves as the Emporium slides further into decay. Overall a beautifully crafted book.

To say the The Toy Makers is about toy makers is a bit like saying Alice In Wonderland is about a girl. This to me had all the magical qualities of anything Lewis Carroll wrote - it is truly a magical book on so many levels.
It has been compared to The Night Circus but I disagree this is so much better on so many levels. The Toy Emporium is no doubt somewhere we all dream of visiting with magical toys being created. It is hard to say to much without spoiling the book. It follows one girls journey through her life and the two toy makers that impact on it. The story starts before World War One and follows the girl and the intertwining stories through this period and beyond.
I can not praise this book highly enough. It will be the talked about book of 2018 and by word of mouth I predict everyone will be reading it. The word masterpiece is rarely used but in this case it is justified.

This was not what I was expecting from the blurb. I was thinking it would be a light-hearted and magical Christmas read but it turned out to have a lot more depth to it and be a whole lot darker than I thought.

It starts out as a magical Christmassy story. Cathy is pregnant and running away from her family who want her to give up her baby. She sees an advert in the paper for The Emporium, a toy shop, and instinctively feels that it's the answer to all her problems. When she arrives she finds that the shop is full of magic and wonder and finds a place to raise her baby in safety.

The two brothers Kasper and Emil are at war with each other. They have been playing what they call the Long War since they were little, battling against each other with toy soldiers. They are also competing over who can create the best toys, the most magical, the ones that sell the best.

Emil takes the contest very seriously because as the younger brother he has always felt inferior to the confident and gifted Kasper. The toy soldiers he makes are the only way he can live up to the abilities of his father and his brother.

When Cathy arrives at the Emporium Kasper and Emil also fight for her attention, even when the arrival of her baby force the two boys to begin to grow up. The intrusion of the first World War causes a further rift between the brothers.

The author has created some interesting characters but they mostly feel flat and two dimensional. The female characters especially have no personality, we have The Martyr in Cathy who spends her life working for the happiness of the people she loves, and The Harpy in Nina, who berates Emil constantly. Both exist only to cause conflict in the men. Cathy is the supporter who cares for Kasper after the war and Nina pushes Emil to the edge so he has to take desperate measures.

The magical feel of the book starts to fade as the family deal with the effects of war and what's left behind is quite dark and depressing. Cathy is the main character in the book but she doesn't have the personality to carry the story or shine a light through the dark places.

A heartbreaking read but it aims higher than it reaches and the characters are too flat to hold interest.

This was a fun read and reminded me a lot of Charlie and the Chocolate factory vibe though. The style of writing was just ok for me as I wasn't connecting well with characters and so not the best but still an ok read at this time of the year (December).

Thank you Netgalley for my review copy

It is not very often that a book speaks to my very soul but this was one. From the very beginning, I was in a world alive with hope and wonder and it dragged me in fully. I was so moved by the story and I felt like a kid again with all of the imagery and wondrous scenes described in front of me. This is a perfect book for Christmas (or any time of year) and moved me to tears at multiple points and full laughter at more.
Loved, loved, loved it! Will definitely read more by this author.

If you're the kind of person who is very young at heart, then you will fall in love with this novel. It's full of magical realism, everyone's dream of toys coming to life and infinite toy boxes and tiny doll houses.

That being said, this book does explore death, the meaning of family, and war. 

There's a beautiful balance of how life "outside" of the toy store can affect the life inside.