Page Count 385
Publication date 2019/ Publisher Orbit
Synopsis
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
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Review
The 10,000 Doors Of January might just be the most endearing book I’ve ever read.
A beautifully written heart rending journey across worlds to reunite both parents and child.
This novel gave me extreme wanderlust. Of course I know I cannot will a door into existence that could take me to another world -but the real world settings are described with as much wonder as the fictional. I read this at the peak of the C-word lockdown and it was such a joy to escape over and over again with January.
10,000 doors is written as a book within a book, a favourite format of mine. Partly written by January and part told by the book she discovers in her benefactors collection of the bizarre.
I’m not usually one for romance but the two stories of life long love intertwined in this fantastical journey were faultless.
I also don’t usually choose to read anything historical, but setting this story in the 1900s adds a certain charm and magic that would be lost in a modern world.
Almost every female character in 10,000 Doors is a strong, defiant leader and each show their own weaknesses with measured emotion and grace. There is a definite theme of sisterhood throughout the book as well as continuing strands of racism and classism.
January herself made an excellent MC, bull headed and yet so naive I found myself cheering her on and sympathising with her plight.
A small group of very powerful enemies and January’s unruly dog ‘Bad’ were the icing on a damn near perfect cake.
I’d categorise The 10,000 Doors Of January as Romantic, Historical Fantasy. Two of those genres I usually avoid like the plague, but Harrow turned my preconceptions on their head.
I loved it, start to finish.
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