A heartwarming tale of life after death. TJ Klune has done it again! If you fell in love with The House in the Cerulean Sea, get ready to be swept away by the world of reapers and ferrymen at Charon's Crossing Tea and Treats, a tea shop that also happens to be a waystation for the recently deceased. Wallace wasn't a particularly good person in life, and he doesn't seem to be doing much better in death. He yells at his reaper when she's trying to sleep and argues with the ghost of a grandfather just trying to help him understand what it means to be dead. And don't even get him started on the ferryman telling him about the door upstairs he'll eventually cross over through. Cross over to what? Nobody seems to know. But the longer Wallace spends with the strange group running the tea shop, the more he begins to realize his life wasn't a good one. But maybe it's not too late to start trying now.

I loved this book so much. Stories with unlikeable protagonists can be hit or miss, but when they hit, oh they hit so hard and so good. The growth we get to see in Wallace throughout the story is so rewarding and I love the relationships that he develops with Mei, Nelson, and, of course, Hugo. The view of death is maybe a bit saccharine at times, but, hey, this is fantasy. And it does still deal with grief and trauma (including depicting one death from suicide, so take care in regards to that if you need to). Full of wit and charm and just a delight to read.

WOW. Just WOW. WOW. WOW. Sometimes a piece of art comes along that is just so powerful and masterful that it puts you at a loss for words. However I am going to try. I saw someone say that if House in the Cerulean Sea was a warm gay hug then Under the Whispering Door was the comforting shoulder you need to cry on sometimes. I think that is a perfect way to look at this. TJ Klune has depicted the process of how death and grief effect different people in different ways all while telling a tender and painfully beautiful love story. This is a story of so many different kinds of love; platonic love, romantic love, love of a pet, love from the past, and so many others. It was SO refreshing to see a romantic love story play out between adults that relied on emotional connection over an immediate sexual connection. Too often I feel like this is an overlooked form of love in adult fiction. All forms of love are valid. This book has all the charm and humor of a TJ Klune book while also tackling some heavy and very tough subjects. I probably will have more thoughts as I process this masterpiece but for now just know that this book is going to change people, heal souls, teach people to love, and remind people to LIVE! I am absolutely floored. Thank you TJ Klune.

The basic plot is Wallace Price, a workaholic and all around selfish person, dies unexpectedly. He "wakes up" at his own funeral, which very few people attended, much to his surprise. At the funeral he meets a Reaper, who takes him to the next step in his afterlife journey, a tea shop in a small village. The tea shop is owned by Hugo, a man in charge of caring for souls before ferrying them onto the actual afterlife. Content warning: there is discussion of suicide and a lot of intense conversations about death so if those are not topics you want to read about, this book may not be for you.

This book is very much in the vein of The House in the Cerulean Sea. It features a man, lonely but unaware of it (or at least in denial about it), finding a family in an unexpected way. Sure it is bittersweet and you'll probably cry your eyes out (at least I did) but it was also much more hopeful than I expected. Death is a very difficult subject for most of us to talk about and this book reflects the myriad ways it effects us. Under the Whispering Tree is at once comforting, gentle, sorrowful, and charming.


I really loved this book. If you enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea, you'll more than likely enjoy this one too.