Title: There is a Door in This Darkness
Author: Kristin Cashore
Published: June 2024
Genre: Magical Realism
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I read There is a Door in This Darkness in August, and have wanted to review it since but kept putting it off for personal reasons. Because honestly... this is the book I needed at the time, as I dealt with my favorite aunt dying from breast cancer, but didn't want to process too heavily as I was in the thick of that. Well, it's now been two months since my aunt died, we've gone through another tumultuous presidential election in the US, and things look bleak as I struggle with my grief. My current situation reflects Wilhelmina's in many ways (although it's not a direct 1:1), so I'm grateful that I read this ahead of time.
This isn't an easy book. There are plenty of reasons people won't like it, or won't want to read it, or will rate it low. Some are obvious: it's a deeply political book, and many people don't want to read that in their fiction, even people who may agree with the politics presented here. I get it, books can be a great form of escapism... but this isn't one of them. Others may hate this book exactly because of its political stances, to which I say... yeah, not much, honestly. But there are less nefarious reasons people may not like it: it's a deeply uncomfortable book to read, and some people may not be ready to read a book that's centered around the COVID pandemic and the 2020 elections, not to mention the overall theme of grief. That's totally fair. I see and acknowledge that. That being said, I think this is an important story about loss and coming of age in a tumultuous time.
Above everything else, grief (and hope) is the central theme of There is a Door in This Darkness: as Wilhelmina grieves her beloved aunt Frankie, she also grieves for her country, before both the 2016 election and also the COVID-19 pandemic. She recognizes the grief for her country and her naïveté, but firmly denies her grief for her aunt (who, at the time of the present-day story, died about two years prior). She has pushed that grief aside to focus on caring for her family, and, well, you know what happens when you do that... Or, at least, I know what happens when I push aside my grief and other "inconvenient" feelings.
Sprinkled in with the "present day" (2020) narrative are memories of various summers that Wilhelmina spent with her aunts. While I'm not a huge fan of flashbacks, I think they're done really well here. They show us the special bond that Wilhelmina had with her aunts (and especially Frankie), and we get to care for all of them through these excerpts. Parts of these memories are woven into the present day story beautifully, making Wilhelmina both face her grief and realize that her family is always there for her, even beyond death.
I've been a big fan of Kristin Cashore since the first
Graceling novel came out in 2008, but fans expecting a book at all similar to that series should temper their expectations.
There is a Door in This Darkness is a stark departure from Kristin Cashore's
Graceling series, with a real world setting instead of high fantasy. It's a harshly realistic novel, and while the
Graceling novels have never shied away from sensitive topics, they're much more visceral here because we've lived this life, or at least something similar. We lived through 2020 and all the medical and political turmoil that came with it. (Readers finding this review 20 years in the future, obviously that might not apply to you. Hopefully.) We remember the fear and, as the election cycle came back around, are living a version of it again. So, yeah, this book hits a lot closer to home in a way that the
Graceling novels never could. (Okay, and the setting being a half hour drive from where I grew up and now live again also hits
very close to home, but I wasn't talking literally.)
Readers expecting more like
Graceling will be disappointed, but the other trademarks of Cashore's writing shines through. She has always addressed injustices, abuse, and atrocities. The injustices and atrocities are on a broader level here than happening to an individual character like in her other books, but the characters feel the weight of them all the same. And the thing that Cashore does the best, that I praise her for in every single book? Character development. Oh wow, her strength in writing characters' inner journeys really shines through here. Wilhelmina, dealing (badly) with personal grief and national grief, has so much growth that she keeps denying herself... until she can't. And then magic happens.
Literally.
And I loved the magic! As a practicing witch, the depiction of magic, of the craft, in this book is amazing to see. Some of it's a little more flashy than we'd ascribe to everyday magic (and yet, nothing is so far out of the realm of possibility) but most of it is just our normal, commonplace craft. Cashore's descriptions of tarot cards were so spot on and beautiful (I'm familiar with all three decks mentioned in the book, and it was great to see more than just the RWS used), as well as just the little ways in which we feel and use energy around us. I would have loved to have three aunts like Wilhelmina's to spend my summers with; I want them even more than the aunts from Practical Magic, and that's saying a lot! But, really, the aunts in general were delightful (and you can see why Wilhelmina's grief over losing one is so profound) and I want to be them both as a witch and as an elder when I grow up.
So, yeah, I loved There is a Door in This Darkness. It hit a lot of personal notes for me -- from the grief over an aunt, to the political turmoil, to the cunning craft. Wilhelmina's journey resonated deeply; I didn't come of age in 2020 (I'm well past that!) but I also experienced profound loss (of my father) when I was in high school and dealt badly with the grief for a long time, as well as losing my aunt very recently. I also lived through 2020 and all the anxiety that brought with it, and am seeing it repeated now in November of 2024.Again, not a book for everyone, but it is definitely a book for me.
