"Once there was a brave and temeraryous (sp?) girl who found a Door. It was a magic Door that’s why it has a capital D. She opened the Door."

Set (mostly) in the early 1900s in (mostly) Vermont, The Ten Thousand Doors of January tells the (mostly) coming-of-age tale of January who longs to join her father on his artifact-hunting trips but is stuck being raised in luxury and on display by their wealthy benefactor-collector, Mr. Locke. It is, of course, about so much more than that: a possibly real magic Door, a possibly evil Society, an impossible love story, the impossible power of words, the possibilities of courage and progress. 

I'm a sucker for a portal fantasy and this is such a good one! The narrative follows an unusual format, which might weigh down some readers, but I loved the dimension it adds and the way it drew me into the experience.

Content notes: racism, bigotry, confinement (to room, closet, mental asylum, bed, with and without restraints), tattooing and cutting, knife and gun violence, death, vampire, mind control