The Doorman's Repose

Some of us look up at those craggy, mysterious apartment buildings found in the posher parts of New York City and wonder what goes on inside. The Doorman’s Repose collects ten stories of the doings of 777 Garden Avenue, one of the craggiest. The first story recounts the travails of the new doorman, who excels at all aspects of his work except for perhaps the most important—talking baseball. Other stories tell of a long-forgotten room, a cupid-like elevator, a poisoned boiler, and the unlikely romance of a cerebral psychologist and a jazz musician, both mice.

Because the animals talk and the machinery has feelings, these are children’s stories. Otherwise they are for any child or adult intrigued by what happens when many people, strangers or kin, live between shared walls and ceilings, under one high, gargoyled, turreted roof.