48 pages • 1 hour read
Every Heart A Doorway
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Background
Authorial Context: Seanan McGuire
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.
Seanan McGuire is an award-winning American author known for her contributions to fantasy and science fiction. Like the Wayward Children series of fantasy mysteries, many of the writer’s works blend genres. In 2009, McGuire published Rosemary and Rue, the first installment of the New York Times best-selling October Daye series. The titular character is a half-human, half-fae woman who travels between magical realms and modern-day San Francisco in stories that weave together urban fantasy with mystery and folklore. McGuire began publishing the InCryptid series in 2012 with the release of Discount Armageddon. This urban fantasy series follows the adventures of the Prices, a family of cryptozoologists on a secret mission to protect supernatural beings from humanity, and combines elements of action, romance, and world mythology.
In addition, McGuire writes science fiction and horror under the pen name Mira Grant. These titles include the novel Feed, which was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2010. Under the pseudonym A. Deborah Baker, she writes the Up-and-Under series of middle grade adventures. McGuire has received multiple accolades, including the Nebula and Locus Awards. She’s been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series more times than any other author, with the October Daye series and the InCryptid series both receiving multiple nominations and the Wayward Children series winning the award in 2022. She also made literary history in 2013 by becoming “the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot” (“Biography.” Seanan McGuire). McGuire also brings her writing skills to the realm of music and has won five Pegasus Awards for Excellence in Filking, a genre of music about science fiction and fantasy. Some of her songs are about “mad” scientists similar to the character of Jack Addams in Every Heart a Doorway. McGuire is a highly decorated writer, celebrated for her prolific contributions to fantasy and science fiction.
Series Context: The Wayward Children Series
Every Heart a Doorway is the first entry of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. Published in 2016, the novella welcomes readers to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, a boarding school for students who have journeyed to other worlds. Many of the first book’s supporting characters become the lead characters in tales of their own as the series continues. The second installment, Down Among the Sticks and Bones (2017), serves as a prequel to Every Heart a Doorway by presenting Jill and Jack’s childhood and time in the wicked world of the Moors. This continues the series’ theme of The Search for Belonging by helping the reader better understand the desperation to return home that drives Jill to commit murder in the first book. The twins’ backstory also develops the theme of The Tension Between Familial Expectations and Individual Needs by delving into the pressures that their perfectionist parents place on them. Jack’s story continues in the fifth book, Come Tumbling Down (2020), and a short story entitled “In Mercy, Rain” (2022). The third entry, Beneath the Sugar Sky (2018), tells the story of Rini, the daughter of a student named Sumi who is killed in Every Heart a Doorway. This book connects to the series’ interest in the importance of friendship and the fragile line between reality and fantasy. The fourth book, In an Absent Dream (2019), provides the backstory of Lundy, a teacher and psychologist who works at the School for Wayward Children and dies in the first book. The 2022 short story “Skeleton Song” explores the magical adventures of Christopher, a student who befriends the first novella’s protagonist and helps to solve the murder mystery. McGuire’s works have earned acclaim from critics and readers, and the Wayward Children books won the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2022.
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