The Dollmaker's Niece
by Sam McCue
After her father dies unexpectedly, Bale finds herself cast away from the only home she has ever known. She seeks refuge in the bustling city of St. Ferdinand with her great uncle, Salvatore - a bitter old dollmaker.
Salvatore was the first to fuse a doll with a human soul and give it life. Now his creations are scattered through the city, living among humans. They work, they love, they play, they weep, they grow, and they die.
But they are not human.
Though desperate to return to her former life, Bale finds she cannot abide the societal neglect of the autonomous dolls. Unfortunately, her only allies may be a rising faction of revolutionaries.