The Astral Library
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 26 Feb 2026
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- 20,99 €
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- Pre-Order
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- 20,99 €
Publisher Description
Have you ever wished you could live inside a book?
Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are doors to new worlds.
Alix Watson knows one thing: unlike people, books will never let her down. Working dead-end jobs to make ends meet, she takes nightly refuge in the reading room at the Boston Public Library, dreaming of far-off lands.
Until she stumbles through a hidden door and is transported to The Astral Library, a place where the lost find sanctuary within their beloved stories.
But when a shadowy enemy threatens to destroy the library, Alix must flee from danger through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen and the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes’ London as danger closes in …
Reviews
Praise for Kate Quinn:
‘Recommend it to all lovers of smart historical fiction’ Booklist
‘Exciting … historical fiction fans will be riveted’ Publishers Weekly
‘Readers looking for a new and unique viewpoint of World War II with a mystery to solve and a light touch of romance will dive deep into this story’ Library Journal
About the author
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 a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written five 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 Rose Code and The Diamond Eye. All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in Maryland with three rescue dogs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historical fiction author Quinn (The Alice Network) turns her hand to magical realism in this charming tale about the joy of reading and the necessity of public libraries. Alix Watson, 26, struggles to make ends meet in Boston, with only to her name and a revolving door of low-paying jobs. Finding refuge at the Boston Public Library, she stumbles across a magic portal to a place where the library's patrons live inside a book of their choosing. There are rules: the book must be in the public domain, Alix cannot become a named character in the narrative, and the course of the story cannot be changed. Alix chooses Around the World in Eighty Days, but before she enters the book, the library comes under attack from a mysterious force. She and the librarian set out to rescue patrons trapped in other books and rehouse them in paintings, where they cannot be so easily found. The plot becomes a bit unwieldy, but underdog Alix keeps the reader invested with her boisterousness and determination. Bookworms will be enchanted.
