Gareth Brown

A debut novel full of magic, adventure, and romance, The Book of Doors opens up a thrilling world of contemporary fantasy for readers of The Midnight Library, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, The Night Circus, and any modern story that mixes the wonder of the unknown with just a tinge of darkness. Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading. But this is no ordinary book… It is the Book of Doors. Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them. Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them. Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there. But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.

From the author of the internationally bestselling The Book of Doors, another fantastical, stand-alone novel in which a trio of seemingly everyday people are members of a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects—ordinary items with extraordinary properties.  The world of unknowable objects—magical items that most people have no idea possess powers—has been quiet for decades, but the three current members of a secret society have remained watchful, meeting every six months in the basement of a bookshop in London. They are pledged to protect their archive of magical items hidden away, safe from the outside world—and the world safe from them. But when Frank Simpson, the longest-standing member of the Society of Unknowable Objects, hears of a new artifact coming to light in Hong Kong, he sends Magda Sparks—author by day and newest member—to investigate. Within hours of arriving in Hong Kong, Magda is facing death and danger, confronted by a professional killer who seems to know all about unknowable objects, specifically one that was stolen from him a decade before. Magda is forced to flee, using an artifact that not even the rest of the Society knows about. Returning to London, Magda learns hers is not the only secret being kept from the other two members. And that the most pernicious secret is about the nature of the Society’s mission. Her discoveries will lead her on a perilous journey, across the Atlantic to the deep south of the United States, now in pursuit of not an unknowable object, but an unknowable the professional killer she first faced in Hong Kong. In doing so, Magda begins to understand that there are even more in the world who are chasing these magical items, and that her own family’s legacy is tied up in keeping all these secrets under wraps. Magic has always been too powerful to reveal to the world. But Magda will learn there might be something even more The truth.

Qualquer porta poderá ser uma porta qualquer. Cassie Andrews trabalha numa livraria de Nova Iorque e leva uma vida calma. Até que, certo dia, recebe do seu cliente favorito um presente peculiar: um livro recheado de estranhos escritos e desenhos misteriosos. No frontispício, encontra uma dedicatória manuscrita dirigida a si própria e uma nota a explicar que está na posse do Livro das Portas. O que não lhe é explicado é que este é um livro especial que confere poderes extraordinários a quem o possuir, mas Cassie não tarda a percebê-lo. Na companhia da sua amiga Izzy, começa a explorar as capacidades do livro, arrebatada pela possibilidade de viajar para qualquer lugar que consiga imaginar. Porém, as duas amigas rapidamente descobrem que o Livro das Portas não é o único livro mágico no mundo e que existem outros livros capazes de fazer coisas tão maravilhosas quanto terríveis... De um momento para o outro, Cassie e Izzy veem-se perante pessoas impiedosas, dispostas a tudo para conseguirem o que querem, e o único que parece poder ajudá-las é Drummond Fox, um homem que há muito foge dos seus próprios demónios e que possui uma biblioteca de outros tantos livros com poderes especiais que precisa de manter em segurança.