Witty, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is a gift for troubled times. TJ Klune brings us a warm hug of a story about a man who spent his life at the office - and his afterlife building a home.
From the author of joyous New York Times bestseller The House in the Cerulean Sea.
Welcome to Charon’s Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh and the dead are just passing through.
When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own sparsely-attended funeral, Wallace is outraged. But he begins to suspect she’s right, and he is in fact dead. Then when Hugo, owner of a most peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace reluctantly accepts the truth.
Yet even in death, he refuses to abandon his life – even though Wallace spent all of it working, correcting colleagues and hectoring employees. He’d had no time for frivolities like fun and friends. But as Wallace drinks tea with Hugo and talks to his customers, he wonders if he was missing something.
The feeling grows as he shares jokes with the resident ghost, manifests embarrassing footwear and notices the stars. So when he’s given one week to pass through the door to the other side, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in just seven days.
Fans of A Man Called Ove and The Good Place will fall for this queer love story by TJ Klune.
Praise for TJ Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea:
'I loved it. It is like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket. Simply perfect.'
- V. E. Schwab, no.1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
'A modern fairy tale about learning your true nature and what you love and will protect. It's a beautiful book.'
- Charlaine Harris, no.1 New York Times bestselling author
'1984 meets The Umbrella Academy with a pinch of Douglas Adams thrown in. Touching, tender, and truly delightful.'
- Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author of Soulless
'A witty, wholesome fantasy that’s likely to cause heart-swelling.'
- The Washington Post
From New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, In the Lives of Puppets is a queer retelling of the Pinocchio tale, inviting you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts.
In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: can he accept love with strings attached?
Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.
An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place – and realizing that family could be yours.
‘I loved it. It is like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket. Simply perfect’ – V. E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
He expected nothing. But they gave him everything . . .
Linus Baker leads a quiet life. At forty, he has a tiny house with a devious cat and his beloved records for company. And at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, he’s spent many dull years monitoring their orphanages.
Then one day, Linus is summoned by Extremely Upper Management and given a highly classified assignment. He must travel to an orphanage where six dangerous children reside, including the Antichrist. There, Linus must somehow determine if they could bring on the end of days. But their guardian, charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, will do anything to protect his wards. As Arthur and Linus grow ever closer, Linus must choose between duty and his dreams.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is an uplifting, heart-warming fantasy tale that’s become a New York Times, USA Today and Washington Post bestseller.
‘Likely to cause heart-swelling’ – Washington Post
‘A modern fairy tale . . . It’s a beautiful book’ – Charlaine Harris, number one New York Times bestselling author
‘Touching, tender and truly delightful’ – Gail Carriger, author of Soulless |