Every Heart a Doorway by Seannan McGuire

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

Yup, I really liked this book.  It had been recommended to me by lots of people whose opinions I trust and I love it when my expectations (hopes) for a book match my enjoyment.  

It's kind of a short book - almost a novella really - but it still packs plenty of world building and action in.  In essence, it's the story of what happens to all those children who have wonderful adventures through looking glasses or dimensional portals when they have to return home again.  Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children is where despairing parents send children who stubbornly and persistently talk about being the friend of a spider queen, or having lived for a decade in the halls of the dead.

Mixed in with this interesting premise is a murder mystery (of course) and some really excellent and well-developed  characters who are all looking for the way back into the worlds they were forced to leave behind.

I raced through it in a couple of sittings and I now want to go and find other books in this series.

4 stars