THIS year has featured a wave of books dealing with the way human beings are defined by their stories, myths and art and one of the most impressive is The Dollmaker by Nina Allan (riverrun).

A novel of stories within stories, blending traditional literary fiction with fantasy, myth and metafictional games, its framing narrative has Andrew, an accomplished creator of beautiful bespoke dolls, spotting an advert in a trade magazine.

He’s swept into a quest involving a mysterious woman called Bramber and he shares with her an obsession with an eastern European dollmaker and writer of dark fairy tales.