The History of the Dolls and What They Did

The questions of animacy and reality that hover over childhood are given new thrust in the absurdist writer Jesse Ball’s playdate horror, The History of the Dolls and What They Did. Set within a home nursery, Ball’s short story follows two young girls into a world of clipped agency and brute amusement that mimes the cruelties of our own. Accompanied by spare illustrations, The History of the Dolls is a breathtaking fable of chorality and control with many a perspectival shift. For fans of Suspiria and Shirley Jackson.

Jesse Ball is an American author of tersely compelling and avidly experimental texts. His prolific and award-winning work ranges from short stories to poems and novels (most recently, The Repeat Room, 2024) that have been translated into more than twenty languages. Ball is on the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.