It’s a lot to take in, and Wallace goes through all the stages of denial and anger and so on - but ultimately, he comes to accept that what’s happening to him is real. The tea shop is a real place, with real (living) customers, but it also houses the door to the next world, a portal for dead souls when they’re ready to move on. Where they end up is at a strange little tea shop in the woods, run by a kind man named Hugo, and inhabited by Hugo’s ghost grandfather and ghost dog. But there’s also a stranger there - a young woman whom Wallace has never seen before, who takes charge and informs Wallace that (a) he’s dead and (b) she’s a Reaper, there to escort him to his next step on the journey. When Wallace regains awareness, he’s at his own funeral, which is attended only by his business partners and his ex-wife, none of whom have anything good to say about the dearly departed. Which makes it kind of ironic that he soon drops dead from a heart attack. His whole life revolves around his work, and he’s completely heartless in dealing with an employee in need. Wallace is a powerful, wealthy partner in a powerful, wealthy law firm, and an absolutely awful person. In Under the Whispering Door, we have a very unpleasant first encounter with lead character Wallace Price. While I enjoyed this novel, it doesn’t quite live up to my (admittedly super high) expectations, but it’s still a sweet, lovely read. I absolutely adored TJ Klune’s 2020 novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea, so I had very high expectations for Under the Whispering Door. Under the Whispering Door is a contemporary fantasy about a ghost who refuses to cross over and the ferryman he falls in love with. When the Manager, a curious and powerful being, arrives at the tea shop and gives Wallace one week to cross over, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in seven days.
With Hugo’s help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life. Hugo is the tea shop’s owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.īut Wallace isn’t ready to abandon the life he barely lived. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead.
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