Lonely Castle in the Mirror

By: Mizuki Tsujimura, Philip Gabriel - translator

Narrated by: Sarah Skaer

Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Seven students find unusual common ground in this warm, puzzle-like Japanese bestseller laced with gentle fantasy and compassionate insight.

Bullied to the point of dropping out of school, Kokoro's days blur together as she hides in her bedroom, unable to face her family or friends. As she spirals into despair, her mirror begins to shine; with a touch, Kokoro is pulled from her lonely life into a resplendent, bizarre fairytale castle guarded by a strange girl in a wolf mask. Six other students have been brought to the castle, and soon this marvelous refuge becomes their playground.

The castle has a hidden room that can grant a single wish, but there are rules to be followed, and breaking them will have dire consequences. As Kokoro and her new acquaintances spend more time in their new sanctuary, they begin to unlock the castle's secrets and, tentatively, each other's.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a mesmerizing, heart-warming novel about the unexpected rewards of embracing human connection.

©2017, 2021 Mizuki Tsujimura (P)2023 Tantor

Loved this Book

The narrator was great. I loved the story. I wish I had a book like this when I was experiencing bullying in middle school. I definitely recommend this book!

I am so glad this book was recommended to me

In some books I read, I want to yell at the characters for their choices. But in this book I would say to myself, "Why didn't you do <this>?" and then realize that I would have struggled just as much as the character did and likely act the same way. I am a timid person, less so as I grew up, but I remember what it was like to be bullied, to be alone, to be on the edges of society of school life in middle school/junior high. There are still times where I think something that I should say aloud, but the words don't come out. (And sometimes say something out loud that I should have kept to myself. Sigh.)

I love the slow growing of friendship and confidence. I felt each character's struggle in their life. The author helped me understand the characters' choices and reactions. Even if some of what the author has written is from life experience, she has also done her research! Each character was unique in her or his struggles and, in the end, someone I cared about and rooted for. I even understood and had sympathy for a lot of the people who were a source of the main characters' problems. They are imperfect too and have their struggles. Well, there was one character who I straight out despised. He can take a long walk off a short pier and get eaten by a sea monster.

It will be a book I return to. It is a book that encourages pondering and discussion. I am glad I was recommended it.

The reader helped immerse me in the story. Her voice acting through her reading added to the story and brought the right level of emotion to the more powerful scenes.