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You'll want to open every one of 'the ten thousand doors of january'.

Jessica P. Wick

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

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The Ten Thousand Doors of January , Alix E. Harrow's debut novel, is one for the favorites shelf. It will lead you on a journey through books within books, worlds within worlds, mysteries within mysteries, until, finally, you reach a deep breath taken after a perfectly satisfying last page. Your breath. The last page of the book in your hand. The kind of last page that bewitches your fingers and, yes, you are turning again to the first page before you've decided whether you'll reread the whole book now or just turn to a favorite part. There will be favorite parts.

Even knowing how it ends, reading again is fresh delight.

Set (at first) in New England at the turn of the last century, this is the story of January Scaller, who's growing up in a large house full of curious artifacts, rich in privilege but starved of belonging. The house is owned by Mr. Locke, a member of the exclusive New England Archaeological Society, who employs her father to acquire objects of interest around the world. Julian Scaller finds, extracts, tags, boxes, and ships pieces back to Mr. Locke, who labels them and puts them safely in order. Julian has dark skin; when January asks Mr. Locke whether she's colored, he tells her she is a "perfectly unique specimen."

Of course, January's isolated life is not completely without fellowship: She has Samuel Zappia, the grocer's boy who sneaks her adventure stories, Jane, the regal mystery woman sent by Julian to be her governess, and Bad, short for Sindbad, most loyal of hounds, a Very Good Boy. Magic is real, though hidden at first. A Door in a field opens into another world. Trinkets and books appear in a chest without explanation. Words written become, or seem to become, true. Stories are power. Doors are secret, but findable. A book tells the story of a world where writing words is literally a power.

The New England Archaeological Society isn't quite what it seems. Most of the characters in The Ten Thousand Doors of January aren't.

These 'Words For Home' Are Poetic And Powerful

January is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, thresholds, doorways and endings. Of course she is. Harrow's writing is always as clever and deliberate as it is exquisite and revelatory. Is there a more beautifully effective way to bookmark history than to tell us what January is reading or what classic work of fiction was just published? My history-loving, bibliophiliac heart thrilled. As I read, I found myself pausing on paragraphs, poring over a single sentence, tracing the letters with my fingertips because of how exactly right an image was or how perfectly an experience was caught in words.

I felt like a child reader again. Do you remember reading and wondering over how the world felt clearer? How here was a way to think about the world you'd never thought before? I do. Do you remember being so invested in characters you thought about them constantly, never doubting they were real? I do.

If I were to level any criticism at The Ten Thousand Doors of January , it might be that occasionally a plot device is too neat. Then again, does a door fit too snugly in its frame if it closes properly? Even when plot fell into place as predicted, the story never shook me; I was always eager to know what came next, and a little afraid of reading too quickly, since logic dictated eventually I'd run out of pages. There is also a tendency for characters to love at first sight, which isn't bad — I love the loves in this novel! — but, again, it feels neat. Certain themes are repeated often. The repetition gives the storytelling an incantatory quality which I liked, but might not be for everybody.

There is a lot to think about. The way Harrow explores privilege and race, class and power, control, imperialism, the desire for order, the desire for hope, community, home, what it is to be an exile, what it is to be afraid. Stories provide strength and escape in The Ten Thousand Doors of January , but Harrow doesn't neglect to show us how the stories we're told can trap us, too. For a novel so grand in scope, it manages to stay intimate. Its heart is in January's relationships with her family, Mr. Locke, and — so importantly, so beautifully — herself.

Here is a book to make you happy when you gently close it. Here you will find wonder and questions and an unceasingly gorgeous love of words which compasses even the shape a letter makes against a page.

I lingered, savoring. I confess to holding the physical galley to my nose, closing my eyes, because this novel demands a full sensuous experience. It glories over the act of reading and writing and responding to words. It revels over letters and curiosity and the power of books. It gives you memorable characters. It gives you worlds and invites you to escape; it invites you home.

This is a love story. I fell in love.

Jessica P. Wick is a writer, freelance editor, and California native currently living in Rhode Island.

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A love letter to storytelling

Alix E. Harrow’s debut novel, YA adventure “The Ten Thousand Doors of January,” is a wonderful jaunt through space and time. It’s well worth the trip.

• By Yvonne Zipp Daily Editor

October 10, 2019

In 1901, a little girl finds a blue door standing in a field and walks through into another world. So begins “The Ten Thousand Doors of January,” the debut novel by Alix E. Harrow, whose interlocking stories serve as a love letter to storytelling.

The book has echoes of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” “Coraline,” the Narnia books, and other portal fantasies without cribbing from any. The main character, January Scaller, is named after Janus, the god of past, future, doors, and thresholds. The plot, which is thoughtful rather than action-packed, hinges on the written word providing an escape. The writing is lovely, with a farm described as set in a “green wrinkle” of land, and it turns soaring whenever the subject is books. “Sometimes I feel there are doors lurking in the creases of every sentence, with periods for knobs and verbs for hinges,” January writes. 

As a biracial girl in 20th-century Vermont, January has grown up as the ward of financier and collector Mr. Locke. Her dad, Julian, is sent around the world to bring back fantastic items for Mr. Locke, while January is meant to be a good girl who stays home and obediently trots out to be stared at by society. Against this suffocating existence, January has allies: Jane, her Kenyan governess; Samuel, the grocer’s son; and her dog, Bad (named for Sindbad, the only explorer who didn’t make the world smaller). He is, needless to say, a Very Good Boy.

Ten years after her first door, January finds a leatherbound book about Adelaide Lee Larson, a 19th-century farm girl who also feels constrained by circumstances and longs to escape Elsewhere.

Readers are likely to guess how the stories intersect, but that doesn’t detract from the pleasures of this carefully crafted ode to the power of the written word.

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THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

by Alix E. Harrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2019

A love letter to imagination, adventure, the written word, and the power of many kinds of love.

An independent young girl finds a blue door in a field and glimpses another world, nudging her onto a path of discovery, destiny, empowerment, and love.

Set at the turn of the 20th century, Harrow's debut novel centers on January Scaller, who grows up under the watchful eye of the wealthy Cornelius Locke, who employs her father, Julian, to travel the globe in search of odd objects and valuable treasures to pad his collection, housed in a sprawling Vermont mansion. January appears to have a charmed childhood but is stifled by the high-society old boy’s club of Mr. Locke and his friends, who treat her as a curiosity—a mixed-race girl with a precocious streak, forced into elaborate outfits and docile behavior for the annual society gatherings. When she's 17, her father seemingly disappears, and January finds a book that will change her life forever. With her motley crew of allies—Samuel, the grocer’s son; Jane, the Kenyan woman sent by Julian to be January’s companion; and Bad, her faithful dog—January embarks on an adventure that will lead her to discover secrets about Mr. Locke, the world and its hidden doorways, and her own family. Harrow employs the image of the door (“Sometimes I feel there are doors lurking in the creases of every sentence, with periods for knobs and verbs for hinges”) as well as the metaphor (a “geometry of absence”) to great effect. Similes and vivid imagery adorn nearly every page like glittering garlands. While some stereotypes are present, such as the depiction of East African women as pantherlike, the book has a diverse cast of characters and a strong woman lead. This portal fantasy doesn’t shy away from racism, classism, and sexism, which helps it succeed as an interesting story.

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-316-42199-7

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Redhook/Orbit

Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

FANTASY | HISTORICAL FANTASY | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

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More by Alix E. Harrow

BOOK REVIEW

by Alix E. Harrow

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION

More by Max Brooks

by Max Brooks

More About This Book

BOOK TO SCREEN

DARK MATTER

by Blake Crouch ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2016

Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.

A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.

Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.

Pub Date: July 26, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION | THRILLER | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION | TECHNICAL & MEDICAL THRILLER

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by Blake Crouch

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Ten Thousand Doors of January (Harrow)

The Ten Thousand Doors of January   Alix E. Harrow, 2019 Orbit 384 pp. ISBN-13: 9780316421997 Summary In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut . In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own. Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow's spellbinding debut—step inside and discover its magic. ( From the publisher .)

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LitLovers © 2024

Theresa Smith Writes

Delighting in all things bookish, book review: the ten thousand doors of january by alix e. harrow, the ten thousand doors of january…, about the book:.

This breathtakingly beautiful debut is a love letter to the written word and the power of stories to open doors to other worlds.

ACCORDING TO JANUARY SCALLER, THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY TO RUN AWAY FROM YOUR OWN STORY, AND THAT’S TO SNEAK INTO SOMEONE ELSE’S . . .

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr Locke, she feels little different from the artefacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored and utterly out of place.

But her quiet existence is shattered when she stumbles across a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page reveals more impossible truths about the world, and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

My Thoughts:

‘You see, doors are many things: fissures and cracks, ways between, mysteries and borders. But more than anything else, doors are change. When things slip through them, no matter how small or brief, change trails them like porpoises following a ship’s wake.’

Fantasy is not a genre that you see pop up here with any regularity. It’s not that I don’t like it, but more that I need to limit it to small doses. I kind of like watching fantasy movies more than reading fantasy novels. I find it very easy, when I’m reading, to get lost in the worlds and go from knowing what’s going on to not knowing in the space of a few pages. Magical realism is a bit more to my taste, that blend of fantasy with the real world, which is what subgenre I feel The Ten Thousand Doors of January fits into.

‘This was the true violence Mr. Locke had done to me. You don’t really know how fragile and fleeting your own voice is until you watch a rich man take it away as easily as signing a bank loan.’

There’s a lot to like about this novel. It’s cleverly done, and with its ‘story within a story’ aspect, a treat for all those who believe in the power of stories to change lives. However, as much as I liked the concept of the novel, I found it difficult to engage with. It wasn’t until the last 100 pages that I felt invested in the story. Prior to this, it all just seemed like backstory and setting the stage, and at times, I felt quite bogged down by it all, as though I were reading and reading, but not particularly getting anywhere.

‘But you were exactly what we’d been striving so hard to prevent, you see, exactly what we’d sworn ourselves against: a random, foreign element, with the potential to instigate all sorts of trouble and disruption, which ought to be stamped out.’

There were some interesting characters, most particularly January herself, whose personal journey was the one part of the novel that really held me captive. But character wise, I had a few questions. The appearance of a vampire had me cringing (are we not yet done with vampires?) but it also left me confused. If the point of the Society was to keep all those deemed as ‘other’ from passing into the world, why on earth would they let such a creature be part of their group? I wasn’t overly taken with January’s mother either, but I’ve never been keen on characters that are ‘cursed with wanderlust’. It usually translates to being selfish and causing their loved ones harm. But I did find Locke to be an interesting character, just unfortunately under-developed. Instead of all of the waffling on about the academia of doors, I’d have preferred some more on his backstory. But that likely wouldn’t have worked with either of the two first-person narratives.

‘Worlds were never meant to be prisons, locked and suffocating and safe. Worlds were supposed to be great rambling houses with all the windows thrown open and the wind and summer rain rushing through them, with magic passages in their closets and secret treasure chests in their attics. Locke and his Society had spent a century rushing madly around that house, boarding up windows and locking doors.’

It probably seems like I really didn’t gel with this one, and to be truthful, I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it at all. It was okay, but nowhere near as amazing as the publicity reviews had led me to believe. The historical fiction aspect was a winner in terms of recreating the era, and the concept behind the magical aspect was creatively clever. Fans of magical realism and other worlds style of fantasy should expect to enjoy this one immensely.

Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing me with a copy of The Ten Thousand Doors of January for review.

About the Author:

Alix E. Harrow is an ex-historian with lots of opinions and excessive library fines, currently living in Kentucky with her husband and their semi-feral children. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is her debut novel. Find her on Twitter at @AlixEHarrow.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January Published by Orbit Released September 2019

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6 thoughts on “ book review: the ten thousand doors of january by alix e. harrow ”.

Well reviewed! I see you also didn’t gel with this book, which gives me some relief! I agree, the publicity and reviews around this (I think it won a Goodreads award) led me to believe this one was outstanding, but not so for me. It had potential.

Like Liked by 1 person

Yes, underwhelming, I thought. I had much higher hopes!

Enjoyed your review Theresa 🙂 I wasn’t sure about this one either. Like you, it’s not a genre I read from often, but after enjoying Strange the Dreamer so much I’m trying to keep an open mind. I love the cover and blurb for this but I don’t think this one is for me.

One thing going for it – it wasn’t the first in a series. I like that it all was contained within the one book. I had high hopes, but sometimes the book to reader fit just isn’t there. We can only keep trying!

I love the cover! Not sure how I’d go with the story. I’m still curious to give it a try.

It was bit YAish for me, to be honest, but I don’t like saying things like that in the actual review because YA fans tend to prickle at comments like that.

Book Club Review: “The Ten Thousand Doors of January”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.   Read the full disclosure here .

We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. Our current theme is “Book Bingo” where we drew reading challenges commonly found on book bingo cards from a hat and chose a book based on that .   For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” by Alix E. Harrow

Publishing Info : Redhook, September 2019

Where Did I Get This Book : The library!

Where You Can Get This Book : WorldCat | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Bingo Prompt : A book with a misleading title

Book Description : In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

Kate’s Thoughts

We’re back to a familiar statement from me during a Book Club post and discussion: I am not really a fantasy reader outside of a few specific exceptions, be it titles (“The Lord of the Rings”; “The Neverending Story”) or sub-genres (dark fantasy). So going into my review of “The Ten Thousand Doors of January”, you need to take all of this with a grain of salt. Maybe a teaspoon or two. I am almost never going to be able to vet a fantasy title super well because as a genre it’s not my bag, baby (a phrase that was tossed around in book club during the discussion).

What I will say about this book that I did like was the way that Harrow incorporated social issues of the time period into the book. We see the struggles of life in Edwardian-era England for not only women, but also women of color within a certain social stature. While January is somewhat shielded from some of this because of her placement with Locke, she is still kept in a gilded cage, and eventually put in an asylum under guise of hysteria when in actuality she is more inconvenient for Locke and his contemporaries when she becomes a perceived threat. And then once she is more outside of Locke’s ‘protection’ (you can’t REALLY call it that), her race is suddenly something she also has to contend with in a more direct and overt fashion. I also liked the way that Harrow addresses aspects of Imperialism and Colonialism through the character of Jane, a woman born in Africa who was being subjected to a missionary school, and eventually finds a door that helps her find freedom. And really, her door, where she encounters a world with a matriarchal cheetah society, was SUPER interesting! But we didn’t really get to see much of that. We didn’t get to see as many doors as I anticipated.

So yeah, I liked the social aspects of this book, as it’s great to see fantasy address these themes. But it’s still fantasy, which just isn’t my genre. So this is very much a ‘your mileage may vary’ situation.

Serena’s Thoughts

Don’t worry fantasy lovers! As the resident fantasy reader, I am happy to step up to vet titles in this genre. And, all told, I found a lot to like in this book. This is definitely one of those fantasy novels that leans heavily on subgenres like historical and literary fiction. While there is definite magic involved in the story and it is surely a portal fantasy, the pacing and overall feel of the book falls more in line with literary fantasy and historical fiction than anything else. As Kate mentioned, the book focuses a lot on the realities of life in this time period for both women and people of color. Even though there are fantastical doorways into different worlds, there is no magic wand to wave away the very real challenges facing many during this time.

The pacing of this book is also on the slower side, spending much more time developing the overall feel of the story and the realities that January is facing. But to balance this slower pace, the story is broken up into two primary stories: one that of January herself, and the second following another young woman born a few decades before January who also found doorways and used them to redirect the pathway laid before her. I really enjoyed the way these two stories came together. I was also surprised by a few twists and turns that were given a long the way. For all the dire circumstances and reality that makes up so much of January’s life, the story includes a hefty dose of hope right when things could begin to feel a bit too bleak.

Overall, I really liked this book. It’s definitely on the slower side and errs towards the lyrical over the action-packed. Like some book club members pointed out, for a book about a thousand doorways between worlds, the story spends most of its time in our old familiar world. But I think that worked for the balance that was being struck between fantasy story and a larger reflection on this period of history and its people.

Kate’s Review 6: It’s fantasy. I liked some of the social themes presented and the small tastes of some of the worlds. But it’s just not my genre.

Serena’s Review 8: A lyrical fantasy novel that makes up for its slower pacing with its lovely character work.

Book Club Questions

• What were your thoughts on January as a protagonist of this book? Did you connect with her as a main character?
• Did you find it to be a nice change of pace when the book would transition to the Adelaide story arc?
• Which side characters did you find the most compelling in this story? Were there any side worlds through the doors you liked reading about?
• What were your thoughts on how this book tackled and addressed various social aspects like imperialism, racism, and sexism?
• Were there any moments that stood out in particular in this novel?
• Who would you recommend this book to?

Reader’s Advisory

“The Ten Thousand Doors of January” is on these Goodreads lists: Portal Fantasy Books and Best Books with a Month in the Title .

Next Book Club Book : “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi

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The Ten Thousand Doors of January

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By Alix E. Harrow

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• Audiobook Download (Unabridged)
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• ebook $9.99 $12.99 CAD
• Trade Paperback $19.99 $25.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around September 10, 2019. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

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Description

• Sci-Fi & Fantasy
• "Many worlds, vanishing doors, mind-cracking magic: I clung to each page, searching for answers. This is one of the most unique works of fiction I've ever read! " Tamora Pierce, New York Times bestselling author
• "A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers and the doors they lead us through... absolutely enchanting ." Christina Henry, national bestselling author of Lost Boys and Alice
• " The Ten Thousand Doors of January begins as a simple adventure, but like its mysteriously transportive doors, leads deeper and deeper the further you read. Each page dazzles with things to be discovered: a mansion of priceless artefacts, a secret journal, a tantalizing quest through strange and beautiful places, and a love story that spans time, worlds, and magic. I couldn't put it down." Peng Shepherd, critically acclaimed author of The Book of M
• "One for the favorites shelf... Here is a book to make you happy when you gently close it. Here you will find wonder and questions and an unceasingly gorgeous love of words which compasses even the shape a letter makes against a page ." NPR Books
• "Harrow has created a gorgeous world of magic that is at once familiar and startlingly new. With lush writing and a sense of wonder , The Ten Thousand Doors of January examines power, progress, and identity. It is an adventure in the best and grandest sense. " Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation
• " The Ten Thousand Doors of January is devastatingly good , a sharp, delicate nested tale of worlds within worlds, stories within stories, and the realm-cracking power of words." Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
• " The Ten Thousand Doors of January healed hurts I didn't even know I had. An unbearably beautiful story about growing up, and everything we fight to keep along the way." Amal El-Mohtar, Hugo Award-winning author
• "A love letter to imagination, adventure, the written word, and the power of many kinds of love." Kirkus
• " A gorgeously written story of love and longing , of what it means to lose your place in the world, and then have the courage to find it again. This book is a door I'm glad to have opened." Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians
• " The Ten Thousand Doors of January is both whimsical and smart, using engaging writing and a unique plot to touch on serious topics. Harrow's debut reads like a love letter to the art of storytelling itself, and readers will be eager for more from her." Booklist
• " The Ten Thousand Doors of January is rich and poignant, angry and beautiful, by turns. Alix Harrow has written a stunning, unforgettable debut." Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author
• "A wild adventure, a sharp critique of our cultural norms, both past, and present, and a wickedly funny and powerful exploration of the power of words and stories. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a triumphant debut!" Los Angeles Public Library
• " Every page of this smart, heartfelt expedition celebrates an abiding love of stories and slips between genres in wonderful ways. Readers are going to relish every sentence and surprise in this book--I know I did!" Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
• "A magical, spellbinding saga... A fantastical journey of self-discovery that reveals the true power of our imagination." Woman's World
• "I loved this book so much. It's a beautiful, dazzling paean to the idea that what was lost can be found again. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a gift: Give it to yourself first, and then to all your friends." Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author
• "A stunning debut novel with inventive worlds, sumptuous language and impeccably crafted details... Readers seeking a fresh fantasy with an enduring love story need look no further, and they'll be left wistfully hoping to stumble upon doors of their own." BookPage
• "To open this book is to open a Door to a brand new world that you'll never want to leave. With the masterful prose of a true Wordworker, Harrow has created a richly imagined, multi-layered narrative full of wonder, sorrow, and strength. " Jordanna Max Brodsky, author of The Wolf in the Whale
• " The Ten Thousand Doors of January ... creates startling, fantastical worlds and dreams up thrilling adventures, yes, but also examines why we so often dream of finding a door to a new place. Before I read it, I thought I knew what a door was. I thought I knew what a story was. Now, I'll never look at either in quite the same way." B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
• 'Beautifully written. . . a wonderful, insightful, and imaginative book. I highly recommend it." Josiah Bancroft, author of Senlin Ascends
• "All the magic you once knew but have almost forgotten waits in these pages for you to discover again. With a masterful voice and a spellbinding story , reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January feels like coming back to a beloved childhood classic to find it unexpectedly grew up with you. It's a deeply satisfying pleasure to read, and lingers in your heart afterward. I loved it!" Melissa Caruso, author of The Tethered Mage

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Alix E. Harrow

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The Ten Thousand Doors of January Paperback – May 12, 2020

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 416 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Redhook
• Publication date May 12, 2020
• Dimensions 5.85 x 1.3 x 8.45 inches
• ISBN-10 0316421979
• ISBN-13 978-0316421973
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Redhook (May 12, 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316421979
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316421973
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.85 x 1.3 x 8.45 inches
• #160 in Historical Fantasy (Books)
• #161 in Magical Realism
• #900 in Romantic Fantasy (Books)

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About the author

Alix harrow.

A former academic, adjunct, cashier, blueberry-harvester, and Kentuckian, Alix E. Harrow is now a full-time writer living in Virginia with her husband and their semi-feral kids.

She is the Hugo Award-winning and NYT-bestselling author of THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY (2019), THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES (2020), a duology of fairytale novellas (A SPINDLE SPLINTERED and A MIRROR MENDED), and various short fiction. Her next book, STARLING HOUSE will be out on Halloween 2023.

Find her on instagram (alix.e.harrow) or subscribe to her newsletter: https://writtenworld.substack.com/

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