"In New York City, bookseller Cassie Andrews is living an unassuming life when she is given a gift by a favourite customer. It's a book - an unusual book, full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. And at the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door.
What Cassie is about to discover is that the Book of Doors is a special book that bestows an extraordinary powers on whoever possesses it, and soon she and her best friend Izzy are exploring all that the Book of Doors can do, swept away from their quiet lives by the possibilities of travelling to anywhere they want.
But the Book of Doors is not the only magical book in the world. There are other books that can do wondrous and dreadful things when wielded by dangerous and ruthless individuals - individuals who crave what Cassie now possesses.
Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is, it seems, Drummond Fox. He is a man fleeing his own demons - a man with his own secret library of magical books that he has hidden away in the shadows for safekeeping. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .
Because some doors should never be opened."
Zoom information will be provided closer to the planned meeting: 12:00pm-1:00pm, May 28th, 2025.
SPOILERS! Discussion questions will be similar to the following (from LibroManiacs):
Izzy says that she’s glad that Cassie got the book and she wondered what someone who wasn’t as nice as Cassie would have done with it. Well, The Woman was not only not nice, she was psychopathic. Discuss the ways that the different characters responded to or used the books.
Barbary says that collecting the books was “… an arms race to see who could collect the most books and the most power…” Drummond carefully guards the Fox Library, hoping to secure the books away from those who sought power. But, while his intentions seemed good, his own hoarding of the books was also way to exert power and control. How were Drummond’s actions similar to or different from Barbary’s?
Why did the author choose books as the vehicle…instead of some other sort of talisman? Rather than a sword or potion, what’s specific to the nature of books that make them critical to the story?
Discuss Drummond’s theory about how you can’t really alter the present if you go back in time. He believes that you’ll just ensure that what is supposed to happen, happens. Is that really what happened? Or did Cassie’s careful massaging of the past indeed change the present?
There were some very circular elements in the time travel part of the story. For instance Barbary’s pain floated in the air, subsequently landing on Rachel, aka The Woman, who as an adult, triggered much of the plot action. Did you observe other instances of the plot looping in on itself? Did it work for you?