Young Alice Creighton has always had a passion for books and reading, she is a hard worker and a rule-follower. But Alice's familiar life is thrown on its end when a real-live fairy appears in the kitchen one night. The day after her father argues with the creature he sets out on a ship to South America, a trip from which he will never return. Alice is taken to the estate of a distant Uncle Geryon: The Library.
Upon her first exploration, the large house has nearly everything but a library, though that makes it no less strange. Meals are prepared by invisible and silent hands, the laundry appears cleaned and pressed without disappearing, and the house remains spotless despite not a soul wandering its halls. Uncle Geryon's only visible servants are Emma (a competent but simple-minded girl) and Mr. Black (a gruff man of questionable character).
Bored with her new life Alice is fascinated when she finally encounters the Library for which the estate is named. The building is separate from the main house and Alice discovers the cats guarding the place are more than they seem: one even leads her to overhear a conversation between the mysterious fairy and the frightening Mr. Black. Ashes becomes her companion in trying to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance.
In investigating Mr. Creighton's death Alice stumbles across a previously unknown ability to enter some of the books she reads and use their magic to affect the outside world. As she learns how to use her Reader power Alice discovers a battle raging beyond her corner of the universe that threatens to use her as a pawn.
Though Alice is warned over and over again she continues to believe in the inherent good of people. Her hopes are met with betrayal, but through the conflict, she finds answers she's been seeking, and more questions driving her quest forward.
The Forbidden Library is the beginning of Alice's journey through literature. The magic of the LIbrary and Alice's ability to Read into books only trigger the start of her adventures. Her story is appropriate for middle-school readers with frightening characters, liberties taken, and children pitted against monsters to gain power.
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