The Book of Doors
by Gareth Brown
(Bantam, 2024)
‘How are you doing, Mr. Webber?” Casie asked … ‘Oh, old and tired and falling apart,’ he replied.
Page 3.
He was lonely, Casie knew, but he carried it lightly, never imposing his loneliness on others.
Page 3.
The bookmark stuck out at Cassie like the tongue of a snake. ‘I’ve read it before, but as I get older, I find comfort in rereading favourites. It’s like spending time with old friends.’
Page 3.
‘I’ve turned into one of those old people who bores youngsters with their stories.’
‘A good story is just as good the second time around,’ she said.
Page 5.
It was everything a bookstore should be, with shelves and tables laden with books, soft music always playing in the background and lights dangling on cables form the high ceiling, creating spots of brightness and cosy gloom. There were comfy chairs in corners and in between the shelves, and mismatched artwork on the wall. The pain hadn’t been redone in ten years, and the shelves had probably been first ought in the 1960s, but it felt appropriately shabby rather than run-down. It was a comfortable place, the sort of store that felt familiar the first time you stepped through the door.
Page 6.
‘The best place to enjoy a stormy night is in a warm room with a book in your lap.’
Page 7.
Everyone deserves better.
Page 9.
The bookcase was a map of her life: the books she had devoured as a child, books she had bought or picked up on her travels through Europe, the books she had read and treasured since living in New York.
Page 13.
It annoyed her that Izzy’s first thought was about monetary value. That wasn’t the point.
Page 17.
As she reached for the door to the hallway she felt a shudder, a moment of oddness when the world seemed to tense and release within her.
Page 20.
The book felt heavy in her hand again, but now she saw that something else was happening. There was a glow, or an aura, around the book, like some sort of intangible shadow but gloriously colourful, like a rainbow.
Page 28.
Their door had somehow been changed, and it now moved in a way that was normally impossible.
Pahe 29.
She looked down at the book in her hand, the simple brown notebook, and realized that she loved it. It had come into her life and it was weaving miracles.
Page 30.
She flicked to the front of the book, to Mr. Sebber’s message, and felt her mouth drop open again when she saw that his words were gone.
Page 34.
She could return to any door she had ever been through, anywhere on the planet.
Page 35.
It was as thrilling as the first time she had used the book the previous day. Ore so, even, because now she was testing what it could do; she was exploring the impossible. She was developing a relationship with the book.
Page 55.
The whole place smelled of wood and leather and books and coffee.
Page 55.
Cassie nodded ae s she ran her finger across the spines, appreciating the taste of whoever had brought the collection together.
Page 56.
Cassie had been a customer of the bookstore before she had been an employee. … She had ended up visiting most days of the week, becoming known to the staff, and even rearranging books when she found them in the wrong place on the shelves. After months of this, Mrs. Kellner had taken Cassie aside and offered her a job.
Page 57.
Conversations with Mrs. Kellner were often like this she had to tell you that you were stupid before she answered your question. There was no malice in it; it was just how she spoke.
Page 59.
It was an arms race to see who could collect the most books and the most power.
Page 68.
Cassie knew she wouldn’t stop using the book. She wasn’t going to turn her back on magic and impossibility.
Page 76.
She closed the door, watching New York all the while through the narrowing gap, like someone trying to catch the fridge light going out.
Page 76.
Cassie felt tears welling in her eyes: tears of joy, tears of amazement.
Page 76.
With the Book of Doors she was free. She was able to go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, as if she had her own fairy-tale magic carpet.
Page 80.
She fell into bed exhausted and elated, the Book of Doors held against her chest like a child’s soft toy as she slept.
Page 82.
‘Any door is every door.’
Page 83.
The Book of Doors was so much better even than it had seemed the previous evening. The whole world was available to her, every city and every street; anywhere a doorway was to be found was a place she could travel to in moments.
Page 84.
‘Someone with cancer - they don’t die in one moment. It’s a long, slow death over weeks and months, where everything that person is gets s tripped away from them. It’s … dehumanizing.’
Page 88.
‘I prefer books to the real world.’
Page 89.
The contents of many of the books seemed to change and evolve, as if they were somehow alive, responding to circumstances, perhaps seeking just the right reader to reward with their riches.
Page 111.