by Peng Shepherd

William Morrow, 2022. 391 pages. Fiction

Nell Young's whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field, and Nell's personal hero. When Dr. Young is found dead in his office, with a seemingly worthless Map hidden in his desk, Nell can't resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable, and also exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence—because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

Jumping between timelines and perspectives, this Book has a lot going on—not to mention the fact that this is also a mystery with some lightly fantastical elements thrown in. Shepherd does a great job of keeping storylines straight, and revealing key plot points at just the right time. I especially appreciated the fact that Sanborn maps had a large role to play in this novel, since we have a set of Sanborn maps of Provo in our Special Collections room. Reading this book made me want to pour over those maps in hopes of finding hidden treasures. If you like books with a mixture of magical realism, mystery, and maps, this book is for you.

The Starless Sea

by Erin Morgenstern

Doubleday, 2019. 498 pages. Fantasy

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a rare book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to a subterranean library, hidden far below the surface of the earth.

by Alix Harrow

Redhook Books, 2019. 374 pages. Historical/Fantasy Fiction

In the early 1900s, in a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger.

by H.G. Parry

Redhook Books, 2019. 456 pages. Fantasy

For his entire life, Charley Sutherland has concealed a magical ability he can't quite control: he can bring characters from books into the real world. His older brother, Rob, hopes that this strange family secret will disappear with disuse, and he will be discharged from his life's duty of protecting Charley and the real world from each other. But then, literary characters start causing trouble in their city, making threats about destroying the world ... and for once, it isn't Charley's doing. There's someone else who shares his powers. It's up to Charley and a reluctant Rob to stop them, before these characters tear apart the fabric of reality.

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