The Café of Infinite Doors

By: Zara Marielle

Published by Union Square & Company, 2026-04-28

In a mythical Scotland of long ago, a goddess's mortal surrogate dies in childbirth and leaves behind a vindictive firstborn daughter who seethes in the shadow of her new divine sister, leading to a violent clash that leaves both sisters imprisoned in separate worlds. Millennia later in San Francisco, sheltered, isolated twenty-three-year-old Marceline is desperate for a job, longing for a temporary escape from her controlling, toxic husband, Baxter. One evening, a magical café appears after Baxter strands Marceline on a desolate street after a nasty fight. Run by a quirky, mysteriously feathered woman named Lucretia, her partner, Kilda, and a gentle Tahitian man named Sylvan, the café holds the safety, comfort, and companionship Marceline has craved. Upon learning that the café's door is a protected portal that opens to those in need, she joins the cafe's staff behind Baxter's back. Several months after Marceline has found her safe haven, the portals to the café begin closing one by one and the cafe's sourceless light goes from warm and honeyed to dim and shadowy. Evil is looming that will endanger not only the café but the world at large; if Marceline is to protect herself and her newfound family, she must choose herself for good and escape her marriage once and for all . . . or say goodbye to her hard-fought freedom forever.