What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours - Helen Oyeyemi

nTranscendent. --The New York Times Book Review nFlawless. .

. another masterpiece from an author who seems incapable of writing anything that's less than brilliant. --NPR n nFrom the award-winning author of Boy, Snow, Bird and 2019's Gingerbread comes an enchanting collection of intertwined stories.

n nPlayful, 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). n nOyeyemi'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.n