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What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
A General Fiction Short Story Collection by Helen Oyeyemi
Subgenres:
- Short Stories,
- Magical Realism,
- Interconnected Stories
This book is for you if you're into...
- Stories where literal and metaphorical keys unlock new mysteries
- Interconnected tales that blur the line between reality and imagination
- Magical realism with libraries, puppeteers, and secret diaries
From the award-winning author of Boy, Snow, Bird and Peaces comes an enchanting collection of intertwined stories.
Playful, ambitious, and exquisitely imagined, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is cleverly built around the idea of keys, literal and metaphorical.
The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret—Oyeyemi's keys not only unlock elements of her characters' lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side.
In "Books and Roses" one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers' fates.
In "Is Your Blood as Red as This?" an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school.
"'Sorry' Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea" involves a "house of locks," where doors can be closed only with a key—with surprising, unobservable developments.
And in "If a Book Is Locked There's Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think," a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason).
Oyeyemi's tales span multiple times and landscapes as they tease boundaries between coexisting realities.
Is a key a gate, a gift, or an invitation? What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours captivates as it explores the many possible answers.
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