Darya and the Doll Doctor

Darya had to flee from her home country. To her despair, she lost her beloved doll. All that she has left of her doll is one of the blue shoes, which she wears on a chain around her neck. 

In a nearby park, her place of retreat, Darya meets Mr Altmann, who is drinking tea on a bench and reminds her of her grandfather with his thick, round glasses. Her grandfather couldn’t come with the family when they fled.
Mr Altmann asks Darya about the little blue shoe that she always carries with her. Darya also misses her doll Alla. The man with the glasses knows how to help, because he is a doll doctor by profession. He brings Darya’s doll back to life in stories and letters and puts a smile on Darya’s face. His special cocoa for grandad’s homesickness works wonders. Until one day Alla sits on the park bench instead of Mr Altmann.

This book has been inspired by a true story:

In 1923, the terminally ill writer Franz Kafka met a little girl on his daily walk in the park in Berlin. She was sitting alone on a bench and crying because she had lost her beloved doll. Kafka comforted the girl, fibbing that he had recently met her doll. She was travelling but had promised to write him letters from the road. He had already received the first one yesterday. He would be happy to read the letter to her. They arrange to meet in the park the next day. According to Kafka’s partner, Dora Diamant, these meetings lasted about three weeks. After that, Kafka was no longer able to continue the dialogue due to ill health. He ended it by reading to the girl that her doll had married. She was doing well and wished the girl the same. The letters are lost, as is the girl who could have told the story.