The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
The Astral Library is Kate Quinn’s gift to bibliophiles, a joyous affirmation and celebration of all that is right and wonderful about public libraries. This concoction is a genre-bending combination of magical realism and fantasy adventure sprinkled liberally with delightful literary references to a range of favorite books and authors.
A Life Shaped by Books and Hardship
Protagonist Alexandria “Alix” Watson ponders the question once seen at a children’s library, “Have you ever wished you could live inside a book?” The obvious answer for dreamers and booklovers is a resounding yes! Alix is 26 years old and has lived a hardscrabble life with childhood spent shuffling between foster home placements devoid of nurturing familiar relationships. Her meager possessions, including a battered but treasured paperback copy of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, would always be protectively shoved into a plastic sack before each move.
Libraries were safe sanctuaries for sensitive, intelligent Alix, who amassed an impressive vocabulary while inhaling books. This self-described sesquipedalian, or lover of using long words futilely, dreamt of attending college. She aged out of foster care at 18 and lives below the poverty threshold in housing shared with unfriendly roommates while juggling three part-time low-paying dead-end jobs. Food scrounged from her coffee shop gig helped with her paycheck-to-paycheck survival. With the bright young things pouring out of Boston’s elite universities, this shabbily dressed fat girl proved no competition for jobs or boyfriends. Until closing time, the reading room of the grand Boston Public Library, where she also worked part-time as a page, provided some measure of respite nightly.
To paraphrase Judith Viorst’s classic children’s book, Tuesday was Alexandria’s “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” Her roommates were evicting her; the barista job was lost after rashly cursing a rude customer and culminated when she discovered she was a victim of identity theft that emptied her meager bank balance. An uplifting, quick visit to Beau Sato-Jones, the sole proprietor, designer and creator of Beau Brummels’ fabulous hand-sewn costumes and gowns, brought the promise of a few more hours of bookkeeping. Gorgeous bisexual Beau wore exquisitely detailed historical attire, and with his exotic features testifying to a blending of Japanese, Pakistani, South African and native Texas genetics, he could have starred in a woke BBC drama. Alix secretly adored him. Overburdened with student loans plus a massive business start-up loan from his father, Beau was on a tight deadline to embellish an Oscar costume for a Rubenesque nominee unusually cast as Belle in a remake of Beauty and the Beast. Favorable publicity could provide a boost to his struggling career.
Through the Door: Entering the Astral Library
Distraught, tearful Alix impulsively decided to spend the night in the Boston Public Library. Concealed at the back of the Reading Room, invitingly slightly ajar, was an ordinary wooden door set into a wall of books. After tentatively entering, she emerged into The Astral Library; it wasn’t Oz, but it was equally startling, magical and colorful. The vast room with its carved barrel-vaulted ceiling and seemingly miles of books was wondrous and inviting. Weirdly, the books were rustling and moving on their shelves, and their old book smell emanated a uniquely calming scent. At the entrance stood a librarian, later identified as Book Dragon, a plump, short older woman with gray hair in a bun who greeted her by saying, “Pleased to offer you sanctuary”. Alix was home, able at last to breathe freely.
The Astral Library chooses book lovers, the lost and the desperate who may wish to live inside a book. Its portals may open to the chosen from any library worldwide, offering a new life by escaping into public domain books. Patrons are incorporated into books as background characters, costumed appropriately and immediately accepted but lacking the ability to alter the plot. While there, time stands still with the option for patrons to choose another book or rejoin the real world.
Before Alix can immerse herself into a bookish adventure, she becomes a valued colleague united against a common enemy: the Library Board, which seeks to eliminate this magical library sanctuary, strictly regulate its use, and ban and discard many books. Thus, the battle for good versus evil commences with some magical assistance from the books. Will Kate Quinn craft a happy ending for the patrons of The Astral Library?
About Kate Quinn:
Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. The Astral Library is her first foray into magic realism. She and her husband now live in Maryland with their rescue dogs.
