Under the Whispering Door

April 26, 2021
A dead man reconsiders his life in this charming fantasy from Klune (The House in the Cerulean Sea). At 40, white bisexual Wallace Price is a ruthless lawyer with no empathy for those around him. When he dies suddenly, prickly reaper Mei arrives to escort his ghost to Charon’s Crossing, a tea shop run by Hugo Freeman. Hugo, a Black gay 30-year-old, serves as a ferryman, guiding souls to whatever comes next. Hugo tells the angry, disbelieving Wallace that he can stay at Charon’s Crossing until he’s ready. But Wallace will never be ready, and after trying to run away and discovering that he’ll become an inhuman Husk if he does, Wallace settles into life in the bustling cafe, learning to manipulate objects from Hugo’s ghostly grandfather, Nelson, and slowly becoming a better person as attraction blooms between him and Hugo. But when Mei reaps Alan Flynn, the victim of a murder, his rageful spirit upends the cozy, found family dynamic at Charon’s Crossing. The frightening Manager arrives to deal with Alan—and gives Wallace just one more week on Earth, setting off a scramble to find a loophole. Tenderness, wit, and skillful worldbuilding elevate this delightful tale. Fans of queer fantasy won’t want to miss this.

July 1, 2021

Death can really change a person. Wallace Price is a cutthroat workaholic lawyer. When he dies of a heart attack, no one mourns him. To Wallace's surprise, the reaper Mei takes him not to Heaven or Hell but to Charon's Crossing, a mismatched building that looks like it should be condemned. Charon's Crossing is a tea shop run by ferryman Hugo Freeman, whose job is to lead the dead to a door at the top of the stairs so they can cross over. But, seeing that Wallace isn't ready to go, Hugo lets him remain in the shop. There, Wallace has the ghostly company of Hugo's grandfather Nelson and Hugo's dog Apollo; neither of them has crossed over either. As Wallace learns about being a ghost, he also learns about being a good person. When the mysterious Manager gives Wallace only seven more days to cross over, he finds that it's hard to say goodbye to his newfound companions, especially Hugo. VERDICT The latest by Lambda Literary Award winner Klune (Wolfsong) is a winning story (slow-paced and heartwarming) about grief, loss, and moving on. Readers will cry and be charmed by his wonderful characters.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2021
Wallace Price is incredibly successful, but at the expense of all human connection, and he dies alone in his office. Then he finds himself at his own funeral, unsure of how he got there. There are only five attendees, including a young woman he doesn't know. She, as it turns out, is a Reaper. Wallace is her first solo job, and she's determined to make his transition smooth. The first step is to take him to the ferryman, Hugo. Hugo runs a tea shop, which Wallace at first finds completely laughable. His initial skepticism fades, though, and he learns to handle the trials of being dead surprisingly well. There are many kinds of death, and many kinds of grief, and quite a few of them end up at Hugo's tea shop. Wallace's stay can't last forever, though--he is, after all, dead, and will have to go through the final door eventually. Klune's (The House in the Cerulean Sea, 2020) latest is a sweet tale of grief and second chances, and a ghost story about not giving up on even the most lost of souls.

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