49 pages • 1 hour read
Gareth BrownThe Book of Doors
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Echoes in the Past”
Part 3, Chapter 27 Summary: “Alone in the Past”
Cassie is alone in New York in 2012. She wanders around considering her next move and falling further into despair, not knowing if Izzy is alive. She considers searching for the younger Drummond, then remembers he’s gone into hiding. Finally, she determines the best way to find the Book of Doors and go home is to find Mr. Webber. She goes to his apartment and asks him for the book, but he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Instead, he gives her some money for food and leaves her alone.
Part 3, Chapter 28 Summary: “The Fabulous Tale of Cassie Andrews”
Yearning for somewhere familiar, Cassie goes to Kellner Books. Mr. Webber walks in and Cassie cautiously approaches him again. She recounts the embarrassing story he shared with her many times before to make him believe her. He checks her cellphone and determines that it’s from the future. Although he’s willing to consider her story, he tells her he’s never heard of the Book of Doors. He agrees to let her stay the night at his apartment so she can rest before finding a solution.
Part 3, Chapter 29 Summary: “The Passing of Days”
Cassie and Mr. Webber bond, and despite his initial reluctance, he doesn’t ask her to leave. They begin searching for the book together and become close friends. Mr. Webber is independently wealthy, having made his fortune by composing theme songs for TV. They’re unable to find the book, and Cassie ends up staying permanently. She suddenly realizes that the woman’s clothes she saw in Mr. Webber’s apartment after his death were her own. Eventually, she stops looking for the book and adapts to her new life.
Part 3, Chapter 30 Summary: “The Other Cassie”
One day, Mr. Webber tells Cassie he encountered her younger self. Until then, he’d never completely believed she was from the future. They discuss their way forward and the years they’ve had together. Cassie prepares for when she makes it back to her own time and faces her enemies. Slowly, she comes up with a secret plan. However, her plan is disrupted when Mr. Webber announces he’s located the Book of Doors.
Part 3, Chapter 31 Summary: “The Book of Doors Discovered”
Mr. Webber has received word that a collector has located the Book of Doors. They make plans to meet with him, though Mr. Webber feels disheartened that Cassie will be leaving him. They meet the collector, Morgenstern, at a fancy hotel at Mr. Webber’s expense. Morgenstern is dismissive of Cassie, though she restrains her annoyance. After a promising start to the conversation, he reveals the book; Cassie is devastated to see it’s not the Book of Doors after all. Later, she makes the final preparations for her plan.
Part 3, Chapter 32 Summary: “The Final Goodbye to Mr. Webber”
Cassie has been with Mr. Webber for nine years, and his health is growing weaker. She realizes he will soon die. She prepares to part ways, and he encourages her to make the most of her life. Cassie realizes that Mr. Webber told her his embarrassing story so many times so she would remember it and use it to earn his trust. They make plans to meet again, with Mr. Webber unaware that he’ll die very soon. Cassie leaves and gets ready for an upcoming meeting.
Part 3, Chapter 33 Summary: “The Bookseller (2)”
Cassie meets the Bookseller, having met her several years earlier as she began putting her plan into motion. Previously, Cassie proved herself to the Bookseller by predicting what would happen in her future. They discuss their agreement: The Bookseller will extend her protection to Izzy and loan Cassie her books, and in exchange Cassie will bring her the Book of Doors once she’s finished with it. The Bookseller asks why Cassie doesn’t just travel back in time to change things, and Cassie explains that she believes the past is fixed. Moreover, she’s learned to appreciate her time with Mr. Webber and her experiences so far. Before Cassie leaves, the Bookseller gives her the Book of Safety, which will keep her from being harmed.
Part 3, Chapter 34 Summary: “The Quiet Death of Mr. Webber (2)”
Cassie goes to Kellner Books and sees her younger self speaking with Mr. Webber. As she watches, the younger Cassie discovers Mr. Webber’s body and the Book of Doors he left behind. Her present self gets ready to face Hugo Barbary again soon.
Part 3 Analysis
Unlike the preceding sections, Part 3 follows a singular storyline from one character’s perspective entirely in the past. Because this section is isolated from the rest of the story, it acts as something of a stage of chrysalis—a resting place away from the world and its problems. At this point, Cassie’s only goal is to survive and heal so she can re-emerge into the same place she left behind, stronger and more determined. As Cassie reflects upon entering the past, she has reached a point in which she is more alone than she has ever been. She begins with a reasonable plan—reclaim the Book of Doors from Mr. Webber—but is quickly rebuffed. From this rocky start emerges a non-traditional yet powerful friendship that lasts until the end of Mr. Webber’s life.
This section takes a deeper look into Mr. Webber’s character, who until this point had merely been a structural device to set the plot into motion. Here, his past and what brought him into Cassie’s life is revealed. Although there is a significant age gap between the two, each fills a need in the other’s life. For Cassie, this is stability and security in a world where she no longer belongs; for Mr. Webber, this is companionship in his isolated existence. While Cassie begins determined to find a way back to her own time, she eventually settles into the rhythm of the everyday and allows herself to undergo this slow and steady process of regeneration. This follows the lesson her grandfather sought to teach her about enjoying life as it is. Just as he was unable to travel because he was raising her, she is unable to do the things she wants because of circumstances out of her control. Still, she matures by valuing her time and fostering her relationship with Mr. Webber, who acts as a stand-in figure for her grandfather. Through him, she can recoup some of the time she lost with a paternal figure due to her grandfather’s death and reach a point of closure and peace with her circumstances.
There is a brief interlude in which Cassie thinks she has found the Book of Doors after all, but it turns out to be a red herring. In the time she has remaining, however, she’s able to begin putting her plan into motion; this includes arranging for Izzy’s safety to the extent that she is able. This section closes on the future Cassie reaching the beginning of the novel: She experiences the (second) death of Mr. Webber and the beginning of her past self’s journey into the world of magic books. This gives the first half of the book a cyclical quality before launching into the rising action of the novel’s second half.
