THE WINTER OF THE DOLLHOUSE

A shared interest in dolls and dollhouses forms the foundation of an unexpected intergenerational friendship.

Tiphany Stokes, a preteen, and Szilvia Rózsahegyi, a self-described “old bat,” are new to town, and both are lonely. So when Tiph does the old woman a good turn outside the dollhouse store whose window she haunts, the ensuing conversation leads to a business arrangement: Tiph will walk Ms. Rózsahegyi’s dog and clean her cat’s litter box. Her new employer instructs Tiph to call her Szilvia Néni, the Hungarian for “Aunt Szilvia,” which Tiph instantly Americanizes to Néni Szilvia, and a friendship grows. In interleaved chapters, another begins between two antique dolls, Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood, who find their way from the dollhouse store to Néni Szilvia’s house: Red as part of the old woman’s project to restore the dollhouse her father built for her decades ago and Gretel in Tiph’s pocket. By night, the two dolls explore their new environs, “daredevil” Red coaxing the more timid Gretel out of her comfort zone. Schlitz tenderly develops her characters, giving each a rough-edged complexity. Her portrayal of Tiph’s relationship with her stepmother is especially skillful. Tiph is a basically decent kid, but she’s far from perfect. It’s Schlitz’s clear-eyed portrayal of Tiph’s emotional inner life that anchors this cozy fantasy, with the dolls’ nocturnal adventures providing lift. Main characters present white.

More character study than anything else, this book delves deep.