54 Time November 11, 2019
A quest
narrative
and an ode to
storytellingreader’s patience —and then rewards
it. Morgenstern intersperses Zachary’s
journey with fables and myths from
more books he finds along the way.
There are pirates and ships, painters
and princesses and long-lost lovers—
characters and worlds that at first
appear to bear no relation to Zachary or
to one another.
Morgenstern’s elegant, poetic prose
keeps the pages turning as she begins
to draw connections within
a web of tales that reads
like an ode to stories,
themselves, and celebrates
the distinct pleasure that
comes from engaging with
a text. For Zachary, that
pleasure outweighs any
temptation he might have to return
to school and his regular life. It leads,
instead, to a journey of sacrifice and
self-discovery as he unearths his own
place in the puzzling book’s narrative.
For everyone else, the thrill comes from
watching him on the ride. □“A boy AT The beginning of A sTory
has no way of knowing that the story
has begun.” So writes Erin Morgenstern
early on in her latest fantasy epic, The
Starless Sea, when her protagonist
decides not to open a very special
door. The door, with a golden knob
and intricately painted carvings, has
mysteriously materialized on a wall
in the New Orleans alley that Zachary
Ezra Rawlins always cuts through
on his walk home from
school. Though the young
boy is captivated by its
perplexing appearance,
he decides to move along,
and the next day the door
is gone.
The Starless Sea soon
flashes forward to years later and finds
Zachary, now a graduate student,
in his university library. There, he
discovers an author less book, which
has documented in spookily accurate
detail his experience of seeing but not
opening that mesmerizing door. Baffled
by the book and its specificity,
Zachary sets off to discover
where it came from, how
someone could have known so
much about a small moment
from his childhood and,
naturally, what could possibly
have been behind that door.
Morgenstern, known for
her 2011 best-selling debut
The Night Circus, which has
sold more than 3 million
copies, launches Zachary
on a mystical adventure in
an enchanted universe as
he searches for answers.
Eventually his quest leads
him to an underground
library—a space wafting
with secrets and magic—
where he meets a cast
of characters ready to
help him.
But the novel is
not simply a quest
narrative—it’s also a
meta-examination of
stories that demands theFICTION
Magic behind closed doors
By Annabel GuttermanFICTION
Little fires
everywhere
Twenty-eight-year-old Lillian
is unmotivated and down
on her luck when her old
friend Madison offers her an
intriguing job opportunity—to
be the governess of her twin
stepkids for the summer. In
Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See
Here, the twins’ mother has
just died and they’re living with
their father, a Senator, for the
first time in years. Madison
doesn’t have time to look after
the 10-year-olds because her
husband’s career is taking off.
And there’s another problem:
the twins keep spontaneously
bursting into flames.
If that gives you pause, it
shouldn’t. The book would be
incomplete without this bizarre
element. As in Wilson’s other
novels (Perfect Little World,
The Family Fang), absurdity
quickly gives way to a darkly
funny yet quietly devastating
story. Lillian is entrusted with
keeping the twins out of the
public eye as their father gains
prominence as a public official.
They live in the guesthouse,
keep to swimming in the
backyard and are hardly ever
invited to eat meals with the
rest of their family.
Lillian quickly learns the
importance of being present
with the twins and, in doing
so, is disheartened by the
powerful people who have left
them behind. As things get
thorny—the twins want to see
the outside world, and Lillian
yearns to let them—Wilson
crafts a stunning portrait of the
push and pull of parenthood.
—A.G.
TimeOff Books