12 books exploring portals to forgotten places
There’s something undeniably enchanting about discovering hidden realms through mysterious doorways, forgotten portals, and secret passageways. These magical thresholds are often gateways to forgotten places—worlds that time has erased, realms that exist beyond our comprehension, or lands that only a few chosen souls are destined to find. They are a call to adventure, a summons to explore the unknown. These books tap into that primal yearning, pulling readers through portals into forgotten places that defy imagination. Here are 12 books that weave stories of discovery, hidden realms, and the allure of forgotten places just waiting to be unearthed.
1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
No list of portals would be complete without the iconic wardrobe that leads to Narnia, a magical world where time flows differently and the very laws of nature are rewritten. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, four siblings discover an enchanted portal hidden within the back of an ordinary wardrobe, leading them to a land that’s both familiar and wildly different from their own. Narnia is a forgotten place, caught in an eternal winter, its magic and secrets waiting to be rediscovered. The wardrobe itself becomes more than just a door—it’s a threshold into a world of wonder, danger, and profound transformation.
2. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
In Coraline, the protagonist steps through a seemingly innocuous door in her family’s new home and finds herself in the Other World—a twisted, eerie mirror of her own. This otherworldly realm is both familiar and terrifying, where the landscape is a distorted reflection of Coraline’s reality, and the people she loves have sinister, otherworldly counterparts. This forgotten place, hidden behind a secret door, holds dark secrets that Coraline must uncover to escape. Gaiman’s story taps into the chilling allure of entering a forgotten world, where safety and danger are intertwined.
3. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
In The Time Traveler’s Wife, portals to forgotten places take the form of time itself. Henry, the protagonist, has a genetic condition that causes him to involuntarily travel through time. Through these portals, he visits past and future versions of his life, experiencing forgotten moments and places that no longer exist. The novel is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and the paradoxes of time, where Henry’s journey is as much about forgotten places in his personal timeline as it is about the places that have faded from history’s grasp.
4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Midnight Library is a unique kind of portal—a library that exists between life and death, where every book represents a different life that could have been lived. Nora Seed, disillusioned with her own life, steps into this forgotten space where she can explore alternate versions of herself, unlocking doors to the paths not taken. The library serves as a gateway to forgotten possibilities, where time bends and choice holds the key to unlocking different versions of the world.
5. The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch
In The 13th Hour, a man named Nick Quinn discovers that he can travel through a portal into a forgotten hour of the day, one that exists outside the normal flow of time. This portal allows him to undo mistakes and alter his fate, but at a price. Every journey through the 13th hour takes him closer to the unraveling of his own existence. Doetsch’s novel weaves a tense, thrilling story of second chances and the deep consequences of tampering with forgotten moments.
6. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Night Circus isn’t just a magical circus; it’s a portal to a forgotten realm of wonder, mystery, and illusion. Beneath its black-and-white striped tents, the circus operates in a realm that exists outside the normal world, where the laws of time and space are suspended. The circus, known as Le Cirque des Rêves, is a place where time itself is manipulated, and the magic of forgotten places and dreams unfolds under the veil of night. Morgenstern’s lush descriptions transport readers into a forgotten world where anything is possible, and every corner hides a new mystery.
7. The City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
In The City of Stairs, the city of Bulikov was once a place where gods walked among mortals, shaping every aspect of life. But after a divine revolution, the gods were overthrown, and their influence erased. However, hidden portals and remnants of the divine still linger in the forgotten places of the city. The protagonist, Shara Thivani, steps into this strange and secretive realm, uncovering ancient magic and forgotten deities, as well as the city’s hidden past. Bennett’s novel explores the allure of rediscovering forgotten realms and the mysteries that remain just beneath the surface.
8. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
In The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gaiman creates a portal into a long-forgotten world through the lens of childhood memory. The narrator revisits his childhood home and, in doing so, unlocks a door to a realm of magic, monsters, and otherworldly beings that existed when he was a child. The narrative weaves between the past and present, blurring the line between memory and reality, showing how forgotten places and childhood imaginations can reveal forgotten truths and worlds that seem impossible to believe.
9. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
In The Neverending Story, the portal is a mysterious book that leads the reader into the fantastical realm of Fantastica. This otherworldly place is a land of infinite imagination, where every page offers a new adventure and every reader has a role to play. As the protagonist Bastian reads, he is transported into this forgotten realm, where its fate—and his own—are intertwined. Ende’s novel explores the power of storytelling as a portal to forgotten places, where the boundaries between fiction and reality disappear.
10. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series is a journey through parallel worlds, each more strange and dangerous than the last. The portal to these forgotten places lies within the quest for the Dark Tower itself, a mysterious structure at the center of the universe. Roland, the Gunslinger, travels across a post-apocalyptic landscape where the remnants of forgotten civilizations, twisted creatures, and cryptic portals await him. The novel is a deep dive into otherworldly realms where the past and future converge, creating a sense of timeless adventure.
11. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
In The Magicians, the portal to forgotten places comes in the form of Brakebills, a secretive magical university. The students here are trained to unlock the hidden realms of magic that lie beyond the surface of reality. However, the ultimate portal lies in the land of Fillory, a place that has been the stuff of legend and fantasy. When the protagonists discover that Fillory is real, they step into a world filled with magic, danger, and forgotten histories. Grossman’s novel explores the tension between fantasy and reality, showing how the pursuit of magic leads to the discovery of long-forgotten worlds.
12. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
In The Shadow of the Wind, the mysterious Cemetery of Forgotten Books is the ultimate portal to lost worlds. It’s a labyrinthine library filled with books that have been abandoned by time, and once you find it, you can never leave without taking one of its forgotten volumes. As the protagonist, Daniel Sempere, embarks on a journey to uncover the mystery behind a book he finds in the cemetery, he is drawn into the forgotten history of a vanished author and a secret that could change the course of his life. Zafón’s haunting narrative brings to life the allure of forgotten places—hidden libraries, lost books, and the dark shadows of history.
Final Thoughts
Portals to forgotten places are more than just gateways to new worlds—they’re invitations to discover the hidden mysteries of the past, the secrets buried by time, and the magic that lies just beyond the veil of the known. These 12 books take us on journeys through forgotten realms, where the boundaries between the familiar and the fantastical blur, and where every step opens the door to something more extraordinary than we ever imagined. So step through the threshold, embrace the unknown, and let these stories reveal the forgotten places waiting to be rediscovered.
