Reading Helen Oyeyemi is like working out with a friendly but very aggressive personal trainer. Is a key a gate, a gift, or an invitation? What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours captivates as it explores the many possible answers. Oyeyemi’s tales span multiple times and landscapes as they tease boundaries between coexisting realities. And in “If a Book Is Locked There’s Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think,” a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason). “‘Sorry’ Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea” involves a “house of locks,” where doors can be closed only with a key-with surprising, unobservable developments. In “Is Your Blood as Red as This?” an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. In “Books and Roses” one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers’ fates. The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret-Oyeyemi’s keys not only unlock elements of her characters’ lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side. Playful, ambitious, and exquisitely imagined, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is cleverly built around the idea of keys, literal and metaphorical. ' - NPRįrom the award-winning author of Boy, Snow, Bird and Peaces comes an enchanting collection of intertwined stories. ' Flawless. another masterpiece from an author who seems incapable of writing anything that's less than brilliant. 'Transcendent.' - The New York Times Book Review

What is yours is not yours