by Kate Quinn
First published 2026
Alexandria Watson spends her nights in the Boston Public Library reading room, using fantasy novels to escape her three dead-end jobs and impossible dream of college. The foster care system taught her that books never disappoint like people do. One evening she finds a hidden door and meets the Librarian, an ageless guardian who oversees a secret collection where desperate souls can literally enter the pages of beloved stories to start new lives. The Librarian offers to mentor Alix, but a mysterious threat emerges before she can slip into her chosen book. Someone wants to destroy either Alix, the Librarian, or the entire magical collection. Alix teams up with a charming costume shop owner to help the Librarian escape through literary worlds. They race from Austen's elegant ballrooms to the foggy streets of Doyle's London to Fitzgerald's jazz age parties. The enemy closes in as they jump between stories. Alix must discover who their pursuer really wants to eliminate and why.
Genres: adventure, mystery, fantasy, contemporary
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, portal-fantasy
Setting: Boston, Boston Public Library
Period: Contemporary
304 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow