“Dennis Bock’s characters inhabit a transnational world. They traverse the realms of the living, the dead and the disappeared. In an age of political secrets and repression, they risk making a place for each other's stories. This is a novel for the 21st century. Read it.” - Kim Echlin, author of Speak, Silence
“In Strangers at the Red Door, Bock brings his characters to achingly vivid life—each fully realized in their certainties and doubts, their ambitions, loves, and longings. With elegant prose, he entwines their deeply imaginative stories, guiding the narrative through turns that are at once unexpected and entirely satisfying.” - Cathy Marie Buchanan, bestselling author of Daughter of Black Lake and The Painted Girls
“Eerily Delightful. . . . a proud, faithful devotion to the ensoulment of books, people and even fairy drones and to the capacity of human creativity to expand reality when “suspicion and fear and self-censorship” cease to rule the heart.” - Winnipeg Free Press
"The Giller-shortlisted novelist uses the fantastic to tell a thrilling tale of censorship and the artist’s need to tell their story." —The Globe and Mail
"Extraordinary! Strangers at the Red Door is a novel of remarkable confidence and depth, unfolding across continents, time, and belief systems while remaining deeply intimate and human. At its core, it is a story of searching: every character is looking for something—love, knowledge, forgiveness, meaning—and each undertakes their own odyssey. . . . There were moments when a single sentence took my breath away, and others when I experienced loss alongside the characters. (I might have wept through the last 60 pages or so - not only because of the emotional impact of the book but also for its sheer beauty.) This is a novel meticulously crafted and deeply felt—a rare book that feels both inevitable and enduring. A masterpiece." —Heidi von Palleske, author of Two White Queens and the One-Eyed Jack
"“I highly recommend this book by Canadian novelist Dennis Bock. What first appears to be a geopolitical thriller turns into a much richer story that delves into the psyches of the main characters. Their predicaments prompt questions that most of us have wrestled with, even in a fast-paced story with unexpected plot twists. The book steers clear of ideological polemics and predictable tropes, yet still celebrates those who risk their livelihoods and lives for freedom of expression. Best of all, there’s a kind of wisdom that Bock imparts in this book that makes it – ultimately – an uplifting read." —Robert Delaney, North America bureau chief, South China Morning Post
"Perfect for lively book club discussions." —Miramichi Reader
