The Starless Sea
A graduate student discovers a mysterious book containing a story from his own childhood. Following clues, he finds a secret underground library that houses an ancient world of stories.
Where The Starless Sea keeps showing up
Six of our editors' lists feature this novel.
Also by Erin Morgenstern
Books in conversation with The Starless Sea
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about The Starless Sea
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Vermont graduate student Zachary Ezra Rawlins pulls a stray book called Sweet Sorrows off a basement shelf at his university library and finds a chapter about himself, age eleven, choosing not to open a painted door in an alley. Following the book's marks, he is pulled to a hidden harbor.
No. The Starless Sea is a separate standalone Erin Morgenstern novel, published in 2019, eight years after The Night Circus. Both share her atmospheric literary fantasy approach but are independent stories.
Yes. The Starless Sea uses nested stories within stories, with multiple narrators and time scales. The structure rewards careful reading. Many readers either embrace the labyrinthine form or find it frustrating.
The Starless Sea was written by Erin Morgenstern, published in 2019 by Doubleday.
The Starless Sea is 512 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Starless Sea takes most readers 8 to 11 hours to finish.
The Starless Sea is a standalone novel by Erin Morgenstern, not part of a series.
The Starless Sea is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
