by TJ Klune
4.3 · 4 reviewsA lonely caseworker, an island full of extraordinary children, and the kind of home you never knew you were looking for.
Linus Baker has spent seventeen years filing reports for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, a quiet, rule-bound man whose only companions are a grumpy cat and a strict adherence to procedure. His life is grey, predictable, and comfortably small, until an unexpected summons sends him to a remote island to evaluate one very unusual orphanage.
There he meets six children unlike any in his files, a collection of magical youngsters who have been kept apart from a world that fears them, and Arthur Parnassus, the gentle, mysterious master who runs the house. Linus arrives expecting to assess risk and tick boxes. Instead, he finds laughter, chaos, sea air, and a warmth that begins to thaw something he had long since given up on.
As the weeks pass, Linus must reckon with what his report could mean for the people he has come to care about, and with the difference between following the rules and doing what is right. Tender, funny, and quietly radical, this is a story about prejudice and belonging, and about discovering that family is something you build.
First published in 2020.
4 reviews
Read this during a rough month and it was the gentlest hug. Docked a star only because the pacing drags a touch in the middle, but honestly I'd recommend it to almost anyone who needs to feel hopeful again.
Charming and heartfelt, no question, and I smiled a lot. That said the message is delivered with a fairly heavy hand and the plot is pretty predictable once the setup is established. Lovely if you want cozy over complex.
If you need a story that believes in kindness, this is it. Lucy is hilarious, Arthur is wonderful, and the romance is so gentle it sneaks up on you. Comfort reading at its absolute finest.
I went in expecting whimsy and got something that genuinely made me cry on a train. The children are delightful and Linus's slow opening up to the world wrecked me in the best way. I finished it and immediately wanted to start again.