Known for historical fiction including The Briar Club, Kate Quinn weaves a bookish fantasy in The Astral Library (Morrow, out now). Quinn’s protagonist, 26-year-old Alix, is short on money and job options when she discovers a doorway to a parallel reality at the Boston Public Library. As an Astral Library patron, Alix can choose to live inside any public-domain book, but before she dives in—in historically accurate couture designed by her costumier love interest—she helps the head librarian battle an anti-magic bureaucracy.

Why did you embark on this departure from historical fiction?

I came up with this idea in mid-2021, when the world was tentatively reopening and escapism was on everyone’s mind. Although I do want it to feel like a warm hug for bibliophiles, I also think of it as my battle cry to highlight how important libraries are.

You deploy library references, from discard stamps to a powerful “shush!” How did the details develop as you wrote?

I did a lot of outlining about the rules by which the library operates. I knew one particular bookworm would jump through books to run from, and ultimately mount a defense against, an enemy from the outside. I also tried to make it clear that each book reflects the time in which it was written, so even though it is magic, it does not guarantee safety. Reading is subversive and carries its own dangers, so that’s why everybody can choose the book they feel safe in, or back out and try another.

How do your villains—the Library Board—raise concerns around censorship and under-resourced institutions?

The idea is funny, but it’s serious too—like, even a magic library has red tape and budget cuts. Whether it’s legislators or angry book-banner types, bureaucracy is often a danger for libraries. Libraries can’t be run like businesses, yet they have to worry about money to keep the doors open, and that leaves them vulnerable to people who have power.

How did fantasy writing compare to constructing historical fiction?

I loved putting in tropes like the hero’s journey and indulging my fantasy of opening that door to another world. But whenever I jumped into The Great Gatsby or The Three Musketeers or Jane Eyre, I had to dig into the source material.

Will your next project revisit the fantasy space?

I finished my rough draft of a dual-timeline, pre- and post-WWI novel that deals with the U.K. suffragette movement. I would love to dip back into the fantastical, but historical fiction is not a lane I see myself moving away from.

Return to main feature.