This book, which is the sequel to Keeper of Enchanted Rooms, was perfect for my current reading mood: I wanted something plot-driven that would keep my attention and distract me from some minor physical annoyances (the end of a case of poison sumac, plus some kind of blepharitis) and it did its job admirably. We pick up in early November, 1846, with Hulda Larkin and Merritt Fernsby both having to deal with the aftermath of various events from the last book. It’s hard to talk about this book without spoilers for that one, so maybe stop reading if you haven’t read that one yet and think you might.
Anyway: Merritt is overwhelmed and exhausted by his experience of his newfound magical powers, and Hulda is worried about the future of her workplace, BIKER (the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms) since its former director/her former supervisor has resigned and disappeared. When three staff members arrive from LIKER (which is BIKER’s London equivalent), things get more complicated still: Hulda is trying to find her old boss and also keep her old boss’s secrets, while also hoping she’ll get tapped to be BIKER’s next director. Meanwhile, back at Whimbrel House with Merritt, Owein (the dead boy-wizard whose spirit was in the house itself in the last book) is now inhabiting the body of a dog, which has its challenges as well as its delights. Oh, and Merritt is also coming to terms with some new knowledge about his family, which prompts him to take a trip back to his hometown. And, as in the last book, Merritt and Hulda are also in the midst of a growing romance, so there’s that plot thread too.
Highlights of the book for me: the romance, which is pretty sweet, and Owein, who is even more excellent in dog form than he was in house form.
Minor quibbles: there’s a whole scene where Hulda uses her “dousing rods”—surely that should be “dowsing”? And at the end of the book, when Merritt gets a letter with his sisters’ mailing addresses in it, the addresses are given with ZIP codes … which weren’t introduced until 1963 in our world, and it’s 1846 here, and I see no reason that they would have been introduced sooner in this world.
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