Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of The Doll Maker written by Harriet Simpson Arnow.
The book tells the heart breaking story of a family who leaves Appalachia for employment up north. The book is a very emotional read. One minute the story will make you cry and the next it’ll make you so mad you can barely stand it!
A few years back I did a series of posts about the book. Follow the links below for a peek into the story.
- Reading in Appalachia
- Children and Religion in Appalachia
- Strange Cars Bringing News from Beyond
- Hills and Hollers of Appalachia are a Comfort
To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. *Giveaway ends November 11, 2023.
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My husband and I just re-watched the movie last month. I can imagine that the book is even better.
Holy cow that’s a lot of comments I too have looked for a copy of the doll maker , I also want a copy of mountain path, it’s my favorite of your readings so far. Where will the winners be announced? Will that be on the blog page here or on your YouTube community spot?
Naomi-I will announce them here on the blog 🙂
Oh my, I’ve been searching for a used copy of The Dollmaker for several years. Loved the movie.
I saw the movie several years ago, but have never read the book. I’m sure it’s really good.
Tipper (I just love your name.) I have not read the book, but I believe it is the basis for the movie The DollMaker with Sally Fields. I totally agree with you. I don’t tend to cry very easy, but when I need to release all that pent up emotion I rewatch that movie. It makes me so mad I start scolding the TV and it makes me so heartbroke I just sob. Even after watching it probably 6 times at least it still makes me cry heart wracking sobs. I never even thought about it being a book. Now I have a new book to look for.
I have just finished listening to you read Dori Woman of the Mountain. Totally loved it. Sad to have Granny Hite coming to an end. I am so glad I found your channel. Watching you and all your family gives me renewed hope for the world.
This book is on my wish list! I would love to have a copy
Always wanted to read this one!
I’ve never read the book but I would like to. I can remember watching the movie years ago with my Mommy. She loved it.
After reading thru comments I saw there was a movie about this book. Found it and talked my daughter into watching with me. After seeing agree reading the book itself would fill in details. My Daughter kidded she was slightly traumatized by it cause she started off thinking it was going to be an uplifting story about a dollmaker from the mountains. Thank you for turning us on to so many good reads Miss Tipper.
Would love to read this book. Thanks
I love reading books about Appalachia!
The Doll Maker sounds like a great read! Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy. Continued prayers for you and the family.
Your snippets from the book makes me want more. I would love to read the whole of it. God bless you and yours.
I was raised in the same county in Kentucky where Ms. Arnow was. We are proud to claim her, even though she moved far away. The local college hear has an annual Arnow conference for writers and readers. Fortunately, I have both gotten to attend, as well, as taught workshops there.
Love it
It sounds like a very interesting read.
Hey Tipper. Today is my 77th birthday and it has been a wonderful one. Birthdays are a blessing from God and I am very thankful. My family took me to eat lunch at Mike’s Seafood in Blairsville and it was delicious. Then we went up on Bell Mountain and the views were absolutely breathtaking. I saw the Dollmaker on You Tube and it sure is a good movie. I’ve read a few of Harriett Arnow’s books and she’s one of my favorite authors. Thank you for telling me about some of her books and recommending them to me. The White County Library was most helpful in locating the books for me. You got me started back reading after I got over my cataract surgery and that’s been a good thing. Stay sweet and kind. You are loved by many!
The Dollmaker sounds like a joy to read!
I read the book,” Dollmaker” many years ago. It’s the kind of story that I could read over and over and over again without tiring of it. Excellent choice
Enjoy all the stories you read
The movie can be streamed for free on Amazon and Tubi. There may be more channels that have it. I only checked the two. Maybe there will be time this next weekend for me to watch it. My husband picked our pomegranates and juiced them so I need to get busy making jelly. He can’t use sugar so I make it with Splenda. It tastes really good. I’m not sure you can taste the difference.
I think I remember the movie, maybe you could read that book after The 9 brides and Granny Hite!
The Doll maker is my all time favorite movie, I’d love it if you would read the book but it’s so long I know it would take a long time so I understand why you couldn’t but you have the perfect accent for it
I love the way she writes in the Appalachian dialect. It makes the characters come to life.
The Doll Maker sounds like a good read.
Looking forward to reading this. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
Wow, lots of entries today. Looks like a great choice as a give away!
That story sounds like the real life experiences in my Appalachia. During a period of time when coal mines shut down, my extended family scattered all over the United States. So sad that the highway leading north out of the south was sometimes referred to as “The Hillbilly Highway.” Many came back and made it right there in West Virginia, and some came back to be buried in the land they never quit calling home. I know of a few that died in far off places like Michigan, and when their family decided to move back they still visit the loved one they had to leave behind. I left for a long while, but came back home and decided there was no reason whatsoever I couldn’t work and be happy right there in the Mountain State. I have left again, but not too far to drive in a couple of hours. I used to say West Virginia was the state of sad parents, because so many children left for better opportunities elsewhere. We have reunions and deep family ties, so each year at Pipestem, West Virginia we have numerous states represented with our kinfolk. This book sounds like it would be a wonderful read, and if I do not win may check it out of the library.
looks like a great read…
Looking forward to a chance at winning this book. Sounds like a passionate read.
Would love to read. Thanks!
Is a place where we can find out who won the books?
Teresa-I will announce the winners in a post here on the blog. I usually wait till I have several to announce at once. I haven’t announced any this year yet 🙂
Yes, my wife and I remember the movie! Jane Fonda played in it! She done a good job! My wife read the book the Doll Maker and she said she thought it was better! There is usually more to the story in book form! Any way we appreciate you Tipper and we really enjoy your blog and we are faithful watchers on your YouTube channel! My wife and I just retired a year ago and we are enjoying it very much! You and Matt take care!
Sounds like a wonderful book. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
I love to read non fiction books. Would love to be entered in this drawing.
I’d love to read this book. Thanks so much for sharing.
Morning Miss Tipper, Hope I’m in the close running for this book. It sounds like the kind of story I’d love to read. There was a movie out sometime ago called “The Doll Maker.” I wonder if it’s based on this book. I’m gonna have to find the movie and watch. I believe Jane Fonda was the starring lead. Y’all have a blessed day. Later my friend. Jennifer
I am a true Michigan “flat lander”. But I do enjoy visiting you and your family almost everyday.
Tipper, I’m so glad you share these books with us! I am a voracious reader, always have a book at hand. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself without a book to read! I’ll add this one to my list. God’s blessings to you and yours!
This is a fun thankfulness for November thank you for thinking of it
The hollers and hills , this reminds me where I was raised. I would love to read this book and pass it down to my youngest daughter. She and her fiance went hunting a couple days ago and got a doe. She spotted it and she wasn’t giving up till she found it. There wasn’t no blood to track. She went up on the top of the hill and found it. They brought it home and she helped cut it up and everything. She fixed some last night and I told them , I was so proud of em.
The Hollers and back in the hills , this reminds me of where I was raised. If I had tiis book , I’d pass it down to my youngest daughter. She could learn from this. She went hunting a couple days ago with her fiance and she spotted the doe and he killed it and there was bo blood but she didn’t give up. She was gonna find that deer or die. She went up on top of the hill and there there was. They came home and she got right in there and helped cut it and she fixed some last night. I told her I was proud of them. I said me and daddy always won’t be here so you have to learn these things. Tell Granny we love her and hope she is doing better.
I have heard of the book but I haven’t never read it , God bless you and your family,
Oh I would love to read The Doll Maker! Is this book fiction? Today is my 72nd Birthday & I thank God for letting me live this long. On a funny note: Tipper, I dreamed last night that you, Matt & Katie came to see me unexpectedly in Mississippi, and I was SO happy to meet y’all. The only thing I was worried about was I hadn’t made up one of the beds yet & I didn’t have anything cooked for y’all. Prayers for Granny & all of your family.
Happy birthday Cheryl.
Thank you, Teresa!
I would love to read the book. Prayers for your family.
Thank you Tipper for sharing so many stories of your life.
Your post about strange cars bringing news from far away reminded me of a neighbor from my childhood. If a car went by that she didn’t recognize she would call everyone to tell them not to leave anything out overnight because someone was probably casing the area for a midnight theft run. “Don’t leave clothes hanging on the line if you want to keep them.” was a common command from her. My dad would occasionally borrow a friend’s car or truck and drive by her house a couple of times just to excite her. Once when he was shopping for a new truck he tried out three before he bought one. He drove all three by her house twice.
We’re ALL more the same than we are different. As much as you are able, don’t let ANYONE divide us. Be a peacemaker. We’re all just folks.
I’m always up for a good read.
This book sounds so interesting and it doesn’t hurt that I am now a Michiganer with roots (and heart) in Swain County, NC.
I would love to read The Dollmaker.
I saw the movie…would love the book…heartbreaking times for sure. Thank you for being a bright spot in these days!
I would love to read the book!
Sending loving prayers to Granny and all of her wonderful family! ❤️
Tipper – you are the go to person for Appalachian lore and history. I had occasion to meet Harriet in Ann Arbor with Pauline Adams when I was a professor at Michigan State eons ago. The Dollmaker is a wonderful documentary of the diaspora of Appalachians to become the tinkers and the backbone of America’s industrial growth. This story taking place in the Cass Corridor of Detroit will make you sob.
I cherish my copy of the book .
Tom Tenbrunsel
Carl Sandburg Writer 2023
The “Dollmaker” is indeed a good read; an emotional roller coaster ride • but, good read. She authored several books which are also worth taking time to read. She was born in the hills and hollers of my Kentucky home county and her early childhood was spent some 30 miles away in an adjoining county. On a personal note, she was my grandmother’s niece and her success as an author well to all the family. Thinking of Granny and all in the family, Tipper.
I saw the movie, but have not read the book. I shed a lot of tears while watching! Prayers for all. Take care and God bless ❣️
I have seen the movie but never read the book. Like most books/movies, the book has many more details. It would be a great read.
I remember the movie. I would love to read the book.
Oh, that book sounds like it is a real page turner. Would love to read it. Love and prayers to all of you and continued hope and prayers for Granny. Love to all of you in our reader family, too!
I started reading The Dollmaker years ago and for some reason didn’t finish it. I couldn’t remember where I stopped so I started reading it fresh from the start a few weeks ago. Jane Fonda won an Emmy for her part in the movie I can’t wait to watch it on my old VHS tape after I finish the book. So many families from the hills of KY moved to Michigan and got the hillbilly treatment like Gertie’s family did. I was one of them. God bless Granny!
I was hoping that The Doll Maker would be a part of this Thankful November giveaway.
Thanks for the chance to win this book.
Love reading and love your family!
I read the link about children and religion, the little boy that said pray for me could of very well been me. Me along with some of the other children thought we went to church to get whippings. I along some of the others “walked the aisle” almost every Sunday. The problem was it was to the front door with mother holding our hands and not to the altar. I think we should of went by the altar first. Two things I remember real well , of one time telling mother God was going to be mad at her if she kept breaking those switches off of His bushes planted by the front door and her telling me God was mad at me for showing out, the other is running up the aisle with the idea of cutting across at the front and coming down the aisle on the other side, the preacher stopped his sermon, stepped down from the pulpit and held me until until she got there. Boy, was that whipping bad, I had not only cut up, but embarrassed her. My claim to fame will be for climbing out the Sunday School windows (low to the ground and no screens)and running around in the church cemetery. I always hoped Daddy would come and get me, I stood a chance of him staying and walking around with me, no such luck with Mama. Many of these same children still attend the same church and we will sometimes talk about the old days at church and laugh about those spankings and things we had done when we children at church. One fine lady said her mother brought a switch from home and laid it by the front door. All of these children went on to be good, honest, hardworking Christen adults, I like to think even me. If there was any long lasting ill mental affects on us because of these spankings it never showed. Does anyone remember the children after church service was over playing tag, hide and seek or other games in the parking lot when while waiting on our parents to go home?
Love reading your posts.
I’ve never heard of this book! I will add it to my reading list!
Read the part of Children & Religion. Heard the part of the boy asking for prayer before…and laughed quietly.
Later in the day, I’ll check out other parts.
Folks that feel they have to migrate for work is sad. My Dad was a school teacher. He ‘planted’ us in a small town just off a college campus community. He would commute to the school he was hired for, be it an hour drive or two. On occasion, he would rent a room to sleep in when the commute was too long & return on Friday.
I saw the movie on TV many, many, years ago. It was so good, and I would dearly love to have a copy of the book. I was hoping to check it out of my public library, but they don’t have it.
I have read this book thanks to you. When we were newlyweds we lived near HSA’s family farm and before that I lived a version of an Appalachian country boy in a big northern city. I do wish she had written something about her feelings in later life about leaving the hills and living in the north. Her writing makes me think she always missed it. If I am drawn, please draw again so as to bless someone who maybe hasn’t read it before or wants a personal copy.
I had no idea there was a movie as well! I will definitely have to check that out.
I live in PA but love reading stories about Appalachia. I hope possibly relocate to SC when my grandkids are older. Can’t leave them now. They are my world.
I got the library book years ago and loved it, but it is no longer available at my library, “too old”. Shame. My dad was an auto man after the war. My parents finally moved back to his beloved southern home when he retired. I’ve also seen the movie on tv, but the book is much, much better.
I would love to read this book. I’ve not heard of it before. Much of my family migrated north to work in the steel industry.
Thanks for this post!
Tipper And all, Thankful November is the best part of the year, although the 80 degree weather here in NE Okla is crazy.
Prayers to Granny and everyone.
Thank you for your thankful November generosity. I would love to read this book.
I just love all if thr stories you read. Even hearing you read adds such a wonderful feeling for each book.
My grandfather, grandmother & aunt moved to NY in the 60s for a short while for employment. They ended up coming back home to WV. My grandma couldn’t stand it up north & wanted to be in the country where it is quiet. They took an overnight train from NYC back to WV.
I read The Dollmaker several years ago because I remembered that my grandmother had it. Not gonna lie, it’s one of those books that I’m glad I read, but I haven’t been able to make myself go back and read it again because the story is so brutal to get through. By the end, the only reason I kept going was because Gertie kept going. But honestly, I still don’t know who I’m angriest with: her mother, her husband, or her for letting them walk all over her. I still have my copy and I will get back to it again one day, but if my name comes up for this one, Tipper, give it to someone else, lol!
Catherine, that was my experience also. It was so heart-breaking, I put it aside for a couple of days trying to talk myself into finishing it. I am glad I read it, but it is not a book I care to re-read. I was fortunate to find a copy in a local library.
I don’t believe I am familiar with this book or the movie. But, I’ve found we have very similar tastes in books and the like so I trust that it is a good one. Prayers to Granny and all of you on this beautiful Fall day.
Hi Tipper. The book sounds like a good read.
Hoping and praying Granny is doing better. Thinking of you as you and your family go through Granny’s treatments with her and take care of her to the best of your ability. Love is the greatest medicine and gift of all. Sending love to all.
I have seen the movie . I’m sure the book is better. Like the story my wife and her folks moved from the country in Alabama to Flint, Michigan to work for GM . They returned after few years to home sweet home.
I have lived the doll maker’s story. After 63 years I am moving back to Appalachia. Can’t wait.
Daddy made liquor, we moved a lot til he quit and got a real job in Dawson county Georgia, driving school bus and school bus mechanic, in a building so small you had to leave the door open , finally they built s new building, shop, he traded used cars also at auto auctions at night to make a profit, buy a junk and fix it up, God bless Granny znd Tipper
I read The Dollmaker years ago and would love to read it again.
I’ve never read The Doll Maker because I remember watching the movie years & years ago and I almost never want to read a story after watching it on tv. There’s always exceptions though I can’t come up with an example right now. These days I listen to audiobooks online through our public library and I enjoy being read to. I learn and remember better by hearing than by reading.
Harrier Simpson Arnow is one of my favorite authors. I recently found The Doll Maker movie on the Peacock channel. It was enjoyable but books are always better than the movies. There’s nothing more relaxing than having a good book in your hand!!
Blessed to all.
Read this book close to fifty years ago.
love to read but when I had to stop driving, my treks to the Christian bookstore ended and the first book I have read in years was your cookbook…although admittedly a good book, a novel would be a nice treasure (I gave all my books away when I down sized to live in my present apartment)
This sounds like an excellent book to read!
This sounds like an interesting story. I was blessed to grow up in one place. I always thought it would be so hard to move away from familiar people and places as a child.
I start each morning reading your post.
The daily life of your family is so interesting.
I made pepper jelly yesterday using your recipe. It turned out delicious!
This sounds like a wonderful book. I would love to have it to read! Thank you so much, Tipper, for all your hard work and caring ways!
It was also made in to a movie with Jane Fonda and it was tough to watch in certain parts.
I was wondering if it was the same. It’s an excellent movie that has stayed with me since the first time I saw it.
I have been an avid reader for a few of my over 8 decade years. It began with my 5th grade teacher, Mrs Wright..she was a grammar teacher and I loved her to death. She would not tolerate bad grammar and I have to watch myself that I don’t ‘judge’ others. I so look forward to Friday’s read and look forward to the next offering you have Tipper. Be safe and warm and prayers to Granny.
I enjoy reading and have bought some of the books Tipper reads in her videos. I would like to read this book. Is Harriet’s name Simpson Arnow?
Randy-it is 🙂
I read the links about the book. It’s always sad when people have to move for employment, especially if they are happy where they live. We had wonderful neighbors and friends that lived next door when we were all four very young. They had two small children and we had one at that time. My husband and the neighbor were both coal miners and our neighbor lost his job. After some time trying to find work, he decided to sell his home and move his family to North Carolina for employment. We wrote letters over the years and kept in touch. One year, I received a letter from his wife. She said they had gotten divorced and she was giving me her new address. After that, the letters and cards went unanswered— and we lost touch with them both. It’s been way over thirty years now—but if they moved back next door, we would all just pick up where we left off and be friends forever again.
I could see Momma in each of those little stories. I’ve heard so many like the ones you shared. Strangers come to the ridge in cars were a sure sign of ‘government’ people. If the mountains could talk it’s untelling the things they could say.
Good stories!!
I was a late reader myself. Just last night I was talking to my sister via text and we were reminiscing over some of short stories and authors we liked in our literature books in school. I usually like non fiction books but do have some favorites.