The Doll's House: A Short Story

A widowed mother, ready to give love another chance, moves into her fiancé’s old family home with her teenage daughter. But as they try to build a future together, the past refuses to let go in this haunting short story from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.When Jules first meets the handsome artist Kirin, she’s still mourning her husband’s death, but a fairytale romance soon sweeps her off her feet. Now she and her daughter Scout are moving out of the city and into Kirin’s once-lonely mansion. He’s thoughtfully updated and adapted the home to match their personalities. But Scout is determined to keep her father’s memory alive by rejecting the new life her mother and Kirin have spun for her.Scout’s sullenness begins to fade, though, when she finds a beautiful handmade doll in one of the many empty rooms in the house. Kirin says that the doll belonged to his late sister and he’d like Scout to have it. Scout’s hopeful for a connection over their shared grief, but as she grows more curious about Kirin’s sister, she can’t escape the feeling that a danger lurks in the house…and its gaze is fixed on her mother.

About the Author

Lisa Unger is the New York Times bestselling author of The New Couple in 5B, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, Confessions on the 7:45, and many other novels. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Edgar and ITW Thriller Awards and anthologized in The Best American Mystery and Suspense. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Travel + Leisure as well as on NPR.

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