The Door To January

The Door To January

YA/adult fiction
"The house was a sad thing in the daylight. It sat on a
hilltop, a sagging pile of weathered clapboards and crumbling brick,
the gutters stuffed with the refuse of many seasons. It had been
grand once, a two-and-a-half-story Colonial built facing the harbor; a
huge swaybacked barn sat on the property in its own private ruin."
Can a house haunt a person and somehow summon her to accomplish
the undone work of its past? That's the chilling premise Gillian
French explores in her The Door To January. Yes, folks, we have
discovered a third book by my new favorite author which lives up to
the promise of the other two: Grit and The Lies They Tell.
Natalie and her family had moved abruptly from the small town of
Bernier when she was in middle school. Her cousin, Teddy, a geek, had
been tormented by a group of bullies. One day the gang had showed up
at a place Teddy and Natalie had thought was safe. The ringleader had
produced a gun. One of his friends had died.
Fast forward a few years. Natalie (16) has overcome her
parents' objections and returned to Bernier to spend a summer
waitressing at her Aunt Cilla's restaurant and trying to find out how
to stop a nightmare that has tormented her since the move. It has
centered on the house. Perhaps by exploring it she can find a clue.
She's even brought a tape recorder to catch the utterances of ghosts.
Demons from the long ago past, however, aren't the only threats
to Natalie and Teddy's safety. Someone from her own past resents her
being back in town. He feels that she and Teddy are the reason he
spent time in juvie. He's willing to do what it takes to get revenge.
If a spellbinding mystery that deftly interweaves past and
present is your cup of tea, you won't want to miss out on The Door To
January.
On a personal note, Tuesday I volunteered at Orono Public Library and
Orono Community Garden. My emotions were on a roller coaster. When I
was at the library, beyond work related conversation, I wanted people
to leave me alone. The few conversations I has left me exhausted, as
if I'd run a marathon. So at the garden I started out weeding away
from everyone else. Only then I needed to join the group. I was as
talkative as usual and even managed to talk about Joey. I'm like
UMaine's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde without the sociopath part.
A great big shout goes out to DJ for keeping community garden going in
John and Shelley's absence and for bringing blueberries for snack.
jules hathaway



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