Book Synopsis:
Welcome to Charon’s Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh and the dead are just passing through.
When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own sparsely-attended funeral, Wallace is outraged. But he begins to suspect she’s right, and he is in fact dead. Then when Hugo, owner of a most peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace reluctantly accepts the truth.
Yet even in death, he refuses to abandon his life – even though Wallace spent all of it working, correcting colleagues and hectoring employees. He’d had no time for frivolities like fun and friends. But as Wallace drinks tea with Hugo and talks to his customers, he wonders if he was missing something.
The feeling grows as he shares jokes with the resident ghost, manifests embarrassing footwear and notices the stars. So when he’s given one week to pass through the door to the other side, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in just seven days.
My Review:
Under The Whispering Door is a beautifully written, thought provoking and absorbing read that I’ve continued to think about long after reading.
Firstly I absolutely loved the author’s vision of what happens after we pass away and hope that’s what happens in real life. The tea shop was a lovely creation and I liked the idea of a place where the recently deceased can go to reflect on their life. It was quite amusing to watch Wallace trying to get used to being a ghost, with some of his actions making me laugh out loud.
There are some wonderful characters in this book that I enjoyed getting to know. I started off really not liking Wallace but grew very fond of him as the story progressed and he starts to become a nicer person. This change in Wallace was lovely to see, as was watching him grow closer to the other cafe inhabitants. His growing relationship with Hugo was interesting to follow though laced with sadness as to where it could go. I found myself feeling very sorry for Wallace that he seemed to have discovered this wonderful world too late.
The story starts off a bit slowly as the author sets the scene and we get introduced to the characters but I soon became absorbed into the story. I loved learning more about the cafe and the characters whose backstory was often very heartbreaking. The twist at the end was unexpected but beautifully done. I closed the book very happy though sad to leave the cafe and the wonderful characters behind. This was actually the first book I’ve read by this author but I’ll definitely be reading more from him in the future.
About The Author:
TJ KLUNE is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author (Into This River I Drown) and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include the Green Creek series, The House on the Cerulean Sea and The Exraordinaries. Being queer himself, TJ believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories.
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Sounds really interesting.
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