The Ten Thousand Doors of January

The Ten Thousand Doors of January
By Alix E. Harrow
Redhook Books, 2019, 374 pages, Historical/Fantasy Fiction

In the early 1900s, January Scaller, a biracial teenager, isn’t sure where she belongs. Her mother died when she was a baby, and her father travels the world, acquiring precious artifacts for Mr. Locke, a wealthy man whose hobby is collecting rare treasures from around the world. January spends her days in a corner of Mr. Locke’s house, mostly forgotten. When her father goes missing, January is devastated, and she only finds solace in a book called The Ten Thousand Doors of January, which contains a tale of love and travel between worlds that’s hard to believe. Despite Mr. Locke’s active disapproval, January becomes determined to find out what happened to her father, which leads her on an adventure she would have never had the courage to embark on before.

This book is a perfect blend of historical fiction, magical realism, fantasy, adventure, and romance. (A bit like the beloved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, although that book is more obviously a fantasy novel than The Ten Thousand Doors is.) I read this book at the same time as I read Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea, and I was surprised at how similar these two books were, although The Starless Sea has a contemporary setting. Both books are about people who find solace in reading, and then discover secret worlds behind ordinary doorways and go on to have amazing adventures. Both books also tell multiple stories, switching between the adventures of the main character, and the story that the main character is currently reading. The setting and writing style of The Ten Thousand Doors makes this book feel more like literary fiction than The Starless Sea, which has more of a modern vibe. I unreservedly loved both books, and highly recommend them both.

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