The Dollhouse

In the mid-20th century, New York’s Barbizon Hotel for Women was a legendary residence, offering a protected, prestigious environment for single young women pursuing careers. The Dollhouse uses this real-world setting to explore the conflicting social pressures on American women in the 1950s, a decade marked by a postwar resurgence of domestic ideals and restrictive gender norms. While opportunities for women in the workplace were expanding, a powerful cultural expectation remained: The ultimate goal and measure of women’s success was marriage. This created a dual ambition for many young women, who sought professional training and experience as a prelude to finding a husband and settling down.

The Barbizon catered to this duality, housing students from esteemed institutions like the Katharine Gibbs School and models from the Eileen Ford agency, both of which are featured in the novel. The hotel’s famous real-life residents often embodied this trajectory; for instance, Grace Kelly lived at the Barbizon while her acting career took off, before leaving professional life to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco. Fiona Davis dramatizes this tension through her characters. Darby McLaughlin arrives with the goal of financial independence, while her floor mates, the Ford models, are more focused on landing a wealthy spouse, with one declaring, “I’m looking to find the richest man I can” (19). By setting the story within the Barbizon’s walls, Davis creates a microcosm of a society that encouraged women’s ambitions but strictly defined their ultimate purpose.