Every Heart A Doorway (Wayward Children, 1)

Winner: 2017 Hugo AwardWinner: 2017 Alex AwardWinner: 2017 Locus AwardWinner: 2016 Nebula AwardNominated: 2017 World Fantasy AwardNominated: 2017 British Fantasy Award2016 Tiptree Honor List"A mini-masterpiece of portal fantasy ? a jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll's and C. S. Lewis' classics" ?NPREleanor West's Home for Wayward Children No Solicitations No Visitors No QuestsChildren have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of things.No matter the cost.The Wayward Children SeriesBook 1: Every Heart a DoorwayBook 2: Down Among the Sticks and BonesBook 3: Beneath the Sugar SkyBook 4: In an Absent DreamPRAISE FOR EVERY HEART A DOORWAY"Seanan McGuire has long been one of the smartest writers around, and with this novella we can easily see that her heart is as big as her brain. We know this story isn't true, but it is truth." ? Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series (TV's True Blood)"Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire is one of the most extraordinary stories I've ever read." ? V. E. Schwab, New York Times bestselling author of A Gathering of Shadows"Seanan McGuire once again demonstrates her intimate knowledge of the human heart in a powerful fable of loss, yearning and damaged children." ? Paul Cornell, author of London Falling and Witches of Lychford"So mindblowingly good, it hurts." ? io9"With Every Heart a Doorway, McGuire has created her own mini-masterpiece of portal fantasy ? a jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll's and C. S. Lewis' classics, even as it carves its own precocious space between them." ? NPRFrom School Library JournalThis new story from a veteran fantasy author offers writing that's full of imagery and evocative emotions and helps build suspense from the very first sentence. Behind the titular doorway lie alternate worlds, some magical, some dangerous, and some both. The children, mostly girls, who go through the doors become irrevocably changed, many of them becoming mature beyond their actual years. When they return to the real world, their families and friends no longer understand them. And some, like Nancy, want desperately to return to their alternate world, where they felt welcomed and loved. Eleanor West was once a young traveler to those worlds, and now she runs a home for these wayward children, helping them adjust to reality. Just as Nancy begins to make a place for herself, a puzzling and gruesome series of murders threaten the students and the home's very existence. The characters are well drawn, and their feelings about their impossible situation are believable. The alienation they experience and their struggles to find a way back will appeal to teens. When the murderer is revealed, the motivation will be understood by characters and readers alike. VERDICT Though short (this tale is more novella than novel), this clever inside out fantasy will intrigue fantasy fans and those who loved Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.-Gretchen Crowley, Alexandria City Public Libraries, VAReview"A jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll's and C. S. Lewis' classics, even as it carves its own precocious space between them." ?NPR"This is a gorgeous story: sometimes mean, sometimes angry, and always exciting" ?Cory Do