What does it mean to grow up in a world that constantly asks you to perform who you are before you've had the chance to figure it out? That's the question at the heart of Doll Baby, the debut novel from Emily Singer. The story explores a new generation of coming-of-age, quickly making Emily a standout voice through sharp, self-aware perspectives about the messy journey that is girlhood. It’s a story that explores what happens beyond expectations and identity with performances that no longer seem relevant.
We sat down with Emily to talk about modern girlhood, the emotional impact of growing up online, and why sometimes the most meaningful growth doesn’t come from arriving.
Doll Baby explores the line between self-invention and self-erasure. Do you think modern girlhood increasingly asks women to perform a version of themselves rather than discover who they are?
Absolutely. We live in a culture that constantly asks women to be desirable, interesting, successful, emotionally intelligent, and effortless all at the same time. That was something I really wanted to explore in Doll Baby. I think that tension between performance and authenticity is something a lot of women quietly struggle with, especially now that there’s also added pressure to curate themselves for public consumption.
Your novel doesn’t follow a traditional “coming-of-age” arc. What interested you about writing a story centered more on unraveling than arriving?
I really wanted the story to feel honest and authentic. And more often than not, growth comes from unraveling through heartbreak, mistakes, longing, and confusion. Additionally, I wanted to capture memories the way we remember them as humans. Certain moments stay with us not because they were objectively monumental, but because of how they made us feel.
Were there particular cultural references, eras, or archetypes that shaped the world of the novel?
