THE DOLLHOUSE ACADEMY
From the National Bestselling author of GMA Book Club Pick Oona Out of Order a novel about two best friends and aspiring actresses who join the Dollhouse Academy, where stars are made and dangerous secrets are hidden.
Ivy Gordon is living on borrowed time. For the past eighteen years, she has been the most famous star at the Dollhouse Academy, the elite boarding school and talent incubator that every aspiring performer dreams of attending. But now, at age thirty-four, she is tired of pretending everything is fine. In secret diary entries, Ivy begins to reveal the truth of her life at the Dollhouse: strange medical exams,
From the National Bestselling author of GMA Book Club Pick Oona Out of Order a novel about two best friends and aspiring actresses who join the Dollhouse Academy, where stars are made and dangerous secrets are hidden.
Ivy Gordon is living on borrowed time. For the past eighteen years, she has been the most famous star at the Dollhouse Academy, the elite boarding school and talent incubator that every aspiring performer dreams of attending. But now, at age thirty-four, she is tired of pretending everything is fine. In secret diary entries, Ivy begins to reveal the truth of her life at the Dollhouse: strange medical exams, mysterious supplements, and something unspeakable that’s left Ivy terrified and feeling like a prisoner.
Ramona Halloway and her best friend, Grace Ludlow, grew up idolizing Ivy. Now both twenty-two, neither has made much headway in showbiz until a lucky break grants them entry to the Dollhouse. They’re enchanted by the picturesque campus and the chance to perform alongside their idols. When Ramona begins to receive threatening anonymous messages, it’s easy to dismiss them as a prank from a rival. Her bigger concern is Grace’s skyrocketing success, while Ramona struggles to keep up with the fierce competition. As the messages grow more unsettling, so does life at the Dollhouse. Can Ramona overcome her jealousy and resentment to figure out what’s really going on? Will Ivy finally find her voice, before another young performer follows her catastrophic path?
With dark academia twists and enormous heart, The Dollhouse Academy is a novel about the complexities of friendship, our desire to be seen and understood, and the true cost of making our dreams a reality.
- Flatiron Books
- Hardcover
- February 2025
- 320 Pages
- 9781250320650
Buy the Book
$28.99
About Margarita Montimore
Praise
A Most Anticipated Book (Town & Country, Beyond the Bookends, BookBub, The Nerd Daily)
“Consider this twisty novel dark academia meets the dark side of entertainment—with plenty of references to Hollywood’s Golden Age and the studio system.” —Town & Country
“Deliciously sensational…What could be more fun? As if the wives of Stepford went to the Valley of the Dolls.”
—Kirkus
“Exceptionally inventive…Hints of Valley of the Dolls, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and of course Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House linger as the twisted entrapment of enviable, must-have fame is chillingly revealed…Superstars and wannabes reveal the impossible price of fame in this wildly inventive, convincingly plausible takedown of the entertainment industry.” —ShelfAwareness
“[A] frothy, 1990s-set thriller…Twisted fun…A darkly enjoyable takedown of the entertainment industry.” —Publishers Weekly
“Blending elements of various familiar stories like Fame, The Stepford Wives, Valley of The Dolls, and Stranger Things, Montimore explores the tensions between celebrity and privacy, performance and reality, memory and inspiration. Fans…will appreciate this book’s intrigue and ripped-from-the-headlines feel.” —Booklist
“Montimore does it again! This time she sets her sights on female friendship, creating a protagonist we can’t help but feel for. Add in a shadowy entertainment school-slash-studio, a headmistress with a god complex, plus a star desperate to escape, and you have all the ingredients for an unputdownable novel. The Dollhouse Academy manages to be both dark and feel-good, a story that demands your attention.” —Stephanie Wrobel, bestselling author of Darling Rose Gold and The Hitchcock Hotel
Discussion Questions
Welcome to the Reading Group Guide for The Dollhouse Academy. Please note: In order to provide reading groups with the most informed and thought-provoking questions possible, it is sometimes necessary to reveal important aspects of the plot of the novel, as well as the ending. If you have not finished reading The Dollhouse Academy, we respectfully suggest that you wait before reviewing this guide.
- What secrets did you suspect the Dollhouse Academy was hiding? Were you surprised when the sinister truth was revealed?
- At one point Ivy says, “It’s more interesting when you don’t know who the good guys and the bad guys are because everyone’s a little good and a little bad” (p. 44). Do you agree? What characters in the novel does this apply to and in what ways?
- How did Ramona’s, Grace’s, and Ivy’s early lives inform their decisions to become performers?
- Interspersed with Ramona’s first-person narration are excerpts from Ivy’s diary. What is the effect of reading Ivy’s story in her own words? Do you think Ivy should have told her story sooner, especially to Ramona?
- Who did you suspect was sending Ramona the anonymous notes and why? Were you surprised by the reveal?
- How does Ramona’s experience at the Dollhouse echo Ivy’s early years and how does it differ? Why do you think Ramona is so drawn to Ivy’s story long before meeting her at the Dollhouse?
- Discuss the following quote and how it relates to the story: “A granted wish doesn’t always look like you expect it will” (p. 259).
- How do the live-action movie trailers Grace and Ramona perform (The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, Taxi Driver, The Shining) serve to foreshadow or echo themes in the story?
- Do you think Genevieve truly has the trainees’ best intentions at heart? Why or why not? In what ways are Genevieve and the Dollhouse Academy / Dahlen Entertainment progressive?
- Which Wizard of Oz references did you pick up on? Discuss the significance of the other Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli references throughout the book.
- How does the novel’s theme of replacing people extend from Project Understudy to other aspects of Ramona’s life?
- Discuss the varying opinions in the story around plastic surgery. Whose stance do you agree with the most and why?
- What do you believe actually happened to Timothy? What about Ivy?
- What do you think the future holds for Tia, Jude, and Dion? Why do you think they decided to stay at the Dollhouse knowing what they do about the Dollhouse’s darker side?
- Do you think Ramona and Grace will be able to get Ivy’s story out to the wider world? How?