Let Sleeping Dolls Lie

Gifts in our family are often rectangular and a couple inches thick. Gift-guessers have it easy. The surprise isn’t what it is — a book — but which it is. This past December, I received a gently pre-read biography, The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright by Jean Nathan.

Wright’s series of Lonely Doll books, published in the 1950s and ‘60s, were among my childhood favorites. The big-format picture books remained on the family shelves during our kids’ childhoods. The stories featured solemn doll Edith and her adopted family of two Steiff bears, gruff Mr. Bear and mischievous Little Bear. Wright, a fashion model and photographer, chronicled Edith’s adventures and misadventures in brief narratives illustrated by her black-and-white photo tableaus of her characters. Read more…