Under the Whispering Door

Name: Under the Whispering Door
Rating: 7.64 (999 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250217349

A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND INDIE BESTSELLER
One of Buzzfeed's "Best Books of 2022"!
An Indie Next Pick!
A Locus Awards Top Ten Finalist for Fantasy Novel

A Man Called Ove meets The Good Place in Under the Whispering Door, a delightful queer love story from TJ Klune, author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.

Other TPG Books by TJ Klune

The Cerulean Chronicles
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Somewhere Beyond the Sea

The Green Creek Series
Wolfsong
Ravensong
Heartsong
Brothersong

Standalones
The Bones Beneath My Skin
Under the Whispering Door
In the Lives of Puppets
We Burned So Bright
Murmuration
Into This River I Drown
How to Be a Normal Person

BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS
The Extraordinaries Series
The Extraordinaries
Flash Fire
Heat Wave

ADD TO MY SHELVES

Recommend

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Published Sep 21, 2021

390 pages

Average rating: 7.64

999 RATINGS

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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Under the Whispering Door* by TJ Klune is a heartfelt, engaging story with warmth, humor, and emotional depth, praised for its compassion...

fromlizaslibrary

Oct 22, 2024

8/10 stars

I had started this one on my Kindle back in May but life had been chaotic and it wasn’t drawing my attention. I am very much a mood reader and at the time it was not what I needed. I decided to pick this one back up, this time in audio format. I’m not sure if it was the format of the read or the timing for it but I was way more intriguied this time around. I wasn’t as annoyed by Wallace and I understood the premise so much more than before. I enjoyed the idea that there is this place in between life and death where we learn to accept our new existence. It was a very cool twist and provided several amazing life messages. I got an outcome I didn’t expect as well which made things so much more exciting. I was initially disappointed I wasn’t feeling more attached to this book when I first started so to come back and truly enjoy it was amazing. It really makes you wonder how much a good mindset can do to your enjoyment of a book....

ajhughes19

Mar 12, 2023

6/10 stars

While Klune's tale of life and death was unique in various ways it was moderately lack luster in many others. The characters for the most part were pretty likeable and entertaining though somewhat cliche. The book had a plethora of different diversity in race, sex, age and sexual orientations but not in a sense that it seemed to matter. Everyone treated everyone as perfectly normal which is the ideal world to live in. The unique concepts of reapers and shepherding the dead spirits to the beyond could have been expounded on a bit more. The idea was a good one and kept things interesting though left the reader wanting more of an explanation. The overall message about living life to the fullest and opening yourself up to the world via relationships was well received and left the reader with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside by the end. This adventure is worth the read just to appease the curiosities of how everyone faces the reality of death, grief and loss.

Evan

Aug 13, 2026

6/10 stars

Lovely and enjoyable, but I didnâ€™t love the romance. It feels like it just sort of happens without any real build up to it. A lot of it feels like it happens off-screen, and weâ€™re just told that Wallace and Hugo are spending their evenings together talking and we can infer thatâ€™s where their relationship is developing, but we donâ€™t actually get to see them falling in love as much as I would have liked.

That being said, Iâ€™m sure Iâ€™m going to read another TJ Klune book after this, so clearly I liked it.

GG3005

Aug 06, 2026

4/10 stars

A interesting take on death, mourning, and the afterlife. There’s were times it got a bit too much for me. But I think that it was just due to personal reasons, the book itself very well written, as are the characters. Though I’m biased since I like Tj Klunes writing.

Heidi Hoho

Jul 23, 2026

3/10 stars

I could not get through this book.