But something about this biography’s promise to tell the story, for the first time in full, of the author of a once-famed children’s book from the 1950s who fell out of the limelight in later life spoke to me. I had, at this point, never heard of Dare Wright or The Lonely Doll, named “ the creepiest children’s book” of all-time by The New Yorker in 2017. It was at such a store that, thanks to their wide and eclectic range of often offbeat literary biographies, I came across Jean Nathan’s The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright.

I try to do my part to keep my passion for books alive through stores like these, as it’s there that you can often unearth valuable, out-of-print gems that you would unlikely find anywhere else. Bookshops like these have become a precious rarity in the digital age and especially with the continued decline of brick-and-mortar retail.

The Lonely Doll and two of its sequels have been reissued by Houghton Mifflin.A few months back, I was browsing the shelves of my favorite used bookstore. But this is a quibble, and doesn't detract from the fascinating and elusive girl/woman at the center of this story. With Edie's death near the end of the book the story loses some of its clarity, because despite having many friends, Dare doesn't know how to live without her mother the downward spiral of her final years is horrifying yet incomprehensible. There's a suggestion by some who knew them of a sexual element in the relationship, but Nathan is careful not to speculate. Their closeness becomes increasingly disturbing, keeping Dare a child even as she matures into womanhood. Alone with her strong-willed, manipulative mother, Edie, Dare strove to please her, Nathan writes, 'playing handmaiden to Edie's queen as Edie created their own private universe' of dressup and pretend.

This dark and painfully poignant biography, tells the story of the beautiful and creative Dare (1914–2001), who was separated from her own father and brother when she was three. The children's book told the story of Edith, a lonely doll until two teddy bears-a father and son-come to live with her. Made model/actress turned author/photographer Dare Wright famous.

The lonely doll by dare wright