The Astral Library cover art

The Astral Library

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £15.50

Buy Now for £15.50

About this listen

This audiobook contains a special bonus conversation between author Kate Quinn and narrator Saskia Maarleveld.

Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are doors to new worlds.

Alix Watson knows one thing: unlike people, books will never let her down. Working dead-end jobs to make ends meet, she takes nightly refuge in the reading room at the Boston Public Library, dreaming of far-off lands.

Until she stumbles through a hidden door and is transported to The Astral Library, a place where the lost find sanctuary within their beloved stories.

But when a shadowy enemy threatens to destroy the library, Alix must flee from danger through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen and the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes’ London as danger closes in …

‘Quinn infuses her first fantasy with a joyful love for libraries and their custodians […] It’s charm is boundless' SFX Magazine

(P)2026 HarperCollins Publishers Action & Adventure Coming of Age Fantasy Genre Fiction Science Fiction Time Travel Boston

Critic reviews

Praise for Kate Quinn:

‘Recommend it to all lovers of smart historical fiction’ Booklist

‘Exciting … historical fiction fans will be riveted’ Publishers Weekly

‘Readers looking for a new and unique viewpoint of World War II with a mystery to solve and a light touch of romance will dive deep into this story’ Library Journal

All stars
Most relevant
I had very high expectations of this book. I had been waiting for it for about a year. But it turned out to be unlike Kate's other work. I just forced myself to finish it halfway through just to get to the end. There was no strong story, no proper or interesting villains and ever so many plot holes. The performance of Saskia was top notch as usual, and Kate's writing was good, but the story was very slow, uninteresting, unhooking, and at some points made no sense. I was disappointed. I really expected much better work and story of Kate. No special thing was happening at all. It was hardly even entertaining.

Not her best work

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.