Book: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
December 7, 2023
At age seven, in 1901, January Scaller finds her first Door, painted blue in a field in Kentucky. She steps through it into another world—but only for a moment. When she returns to try to find the threshold again, it’s gone.
And so January is brought back home, to the mansion where she lives with her guardian, Cornelius Locke. Her father, Julian, is frequently absent, working for Mr. Locke collecting the curious artifacts that fill the house to draw the admiration of the men of the New England Archeological Society. January herself sometimes feels like part of the collection. But she’s not entirely left to her own devices: there’s her pulp-fiction-loving friend, Samuel; a governess sent by her father from Africa, Jane; and, of course, her dog, Bad, short for Sindbad. At seventeen, her father vanishes. In a trunk where she believes he sends her items, she discovers and reads a book—The Ten Thousand Doors—that will unlock the secrets that surround her and, just maybe, a path to escape and her future.
Come with me on another thought provoking, imagination stirring, can't put it down, heart moving reading adventure!
This time, let's take a vacation back in time, but also through alternate time and parallel dimensions...This tale starts at the turn of the 20th century with a lonely little girl who doesn't quite fit into her world. The reader follows a story told by a young woman looking back at her childhood.
January tries to be the best girl she can be, obedient and grateful, deserving of the love of her guardian, but never really connecting with him. She misses her kind but absent father, who is a mystery to her. The discovery of a door to another world changes her whole life perspective, and she starts searching for the answers to the unhappiness that fills her life.
Then we spin back to January's mother finding her own door. We read January's father's account of a strange land of water and the magic of words. Back to our world - when she discovers her father's book and account of the Doors, January must discover who she is.
The whole time, she is stalked by unknown evil, some enemy trying to steal her power. Someone is closing and destroying doors and capturing those who come through them. It is up to January, the only one who realizes what is happening, to stop them.
I eagerly read on, hoping that January finds her way, my heart pained for this young girl who fits nowhere. It took me back to being a child - full of wonder, when the imagination was real. The parts to this book come neatly together, maybe too much so for some readers, but I loved it!
I enjoyed contemplating the different realities offered by this book, comparing them to my own hopes. This story explores themes that are all too real: racism, prejudice, privilege, the desire for power and control, the beauty of family and love, the power of words.
I found myself slowing down and re-reading passages, just to savor the vivid imagery and feel the emotions. My love of historical fiction was engaged in picturing times and places in America in the early 1900s. My imagination was ignited by the vivid portrayals of fantastic worlds. My spirit soared as January learned to stand up and find her power, to fight back against those who would put her in a box.
"I hope you will find the cracks in the world and wedge them wider, so the light of other suns shines through; I hope you will keep the world unruly, messy, full of strange magics; I hope you will run through every open Door and tell stories when you return." pp 365
And I hope you will run and walk through the pages of this book and open up to the exhilarating journey!
