The Door Swings Open

The Door Swings Openicon

by Kristin Bartley Lenz

Publisher
Left Field Publishing
Publication
Mar 09, 2027
Format
Paperback/Softback
Illustrated
No
Price
18
Dimensions
5.5 x 8.5
ISBN
978-1966883197
ASIN
1966883196
Pages
385
Age
13 - 17 years
Category
Fiction

Rights Sold

*DropCap does not represent English Print (Worldwide), English EBook (Worldwide), English Audio (Worldwide), English Film & TV (Worldwide) language rights

Description

One will escape. One will get caught. One will die. Sixteen-year-old Charlotte checks into Turning Leaf, a Detroit shelter for runaway teens, telling everyone she is fleeing a home unraveling around her war-haunted father. Her real reason is sharper: her former best friend Ella vanished from this same shelter, and Charlotte means to find out why. Retracing Ella's last days through a city of abandoned houses and thin places, she uncovers a hidden world of grooming, predators, and disappearing girls that the adults around her refuse to see, alongside a magnetic runaway boy who knows more than he admits. Told through a chorus of human and inanimate narrators, from the teens themselves to the rooms and objects that watch them, The Door Swings Open braids literary suspense with grief, intuition, and tarot into a mystery about who gets looked for and who gets left behind. Written by a licensed clinical social worker, it approaches sexual exploitation with restraint and hope, giving readers a gripping, emotionally intelligent story and a clear-eyed view of the dangers facing vulnerable teens.

Awards & Endorsements

“I was floored by the beauty and grace in this compelling story. THE DOOR SWINGS OPEN examines the vulnerability of new love and the danger of entrusting your heart to the wrong person. While sex trafficking is a complex and weighty topic, Lenz writes with a sensitivity that offers empowerment, ensuring readers that like fireflies on the darkest night, the interconnectedness of our world is a beacon of hope.”

“If you want a book with a huge beating heart and vibrant characters, this is it. If you want a book filled with twisty intrigue, adrenaline-spiking action, and mystery that keeps you turning pages into the wee hours, this is that book too. And it manages all this with gorgeous, lyrical prose, no less.”

“Readers, prepare to face your fears. Charlotte’s daring, desperate search for her friend is a dangerous journey through a gossamer-like setting where her own intuition is her most reliable guide. Kristin Bartley Lenz’s masterful crafting is on full display throughout this unforgettable and relevant mystery.”

“A dangerous world lurks just beneath the surface in THE DOOR SWINGS OPEN—an evocative, multi-perspective mystery in which place, memory, and intuition become investigative tools.”

“Days after finishing Kristin Bartley Lenz’s harrowing and powerful THE DOOR SWINGS OPEN, I’m still thinking about what it means to witness. The collective voice of the novel’s many narrators — human and inanimate — is a chorus imploring and empowering us to look where we’ve been told there is nothing, to see what we’ve been taught to avoid, and to tell the story even if we’re supposed to stay quiet…because someone out there needs their story to be told.”

Author(s)

Kristin Bartley Lenz

Kristin Bartley Lenz

Kristin Bartley Lenz is a writer and licensed clinical social worker who has lived in Michigan, Georgia, and California. Her rock climbing adventures inspired her debut novel, The Art of Holding On and Letting Go, reissued as a 10th Anniversary edition in 2026. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and various literary journals and anthologies. She teaches creative writing and writes freelance for Detroit-area nonprofits.

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