Purchase Book Here:
The House of Six Doors
by Patricia Selbert
- Publication date: February 22, 2011
- Paperback ISBN: 978-0-578-06440-6
- iBook ISBN: 978-0-578-06442-0
- eBook ISBN: 978-0-578-06443-7
- 330 pages
Thirteen-year-old Serena is torn from everything that’s familiar on her island home. She leaves her beloved grandmother, her father, and two of her siblings to move with her mother and older sister to Florida, and then to California.
"Everything will be better in America", her mother tells her. They arrive in the US to find nothing as expected. Speaking Dutch, Spanish, and Papiamentu (the native language of Curazçao) but limited English, Serena learns to pretend that everything's fine while struggling to live up to her mother’s impossibly high expectations; always afraid to send her mother into another downward spiral of dark depression. Serena juggles responsibility for her mother's well-being with school, a secret boyfriend, and a growing desire for independence. But the streets of Hollywood hold many dangers for young girls.
The wisdom of her grandmother, a mixed-race mystic, gives her solace, which she clings to tenaciously, despite the thousands of miles between them. Coming of age in a foreign land, faced with enormous obstacles, Serena finds her own two feet and the acceptance that sets her free.
For more information, visit the promotional site for The House of Six Doors.
For more information on publicity, contact Jeanna Zelin:
jeanna@publishingbytheseas.com
New CLIC2C® Technology
The House of Six Doors is the first published book in the world to include CLIC2C®, a revolutionary technology that brings multimedia content to the printed page, with the use of a smart phone.
Download the CLIC2C® app.
Download easy to follow instructions.
Advanced Testimonials
“If you feel as though the circumstances of your life are against you and you wonder whether this will ever change, this is a story that will fill you with hope. A controlling immigrant mother dominates her children’s lives. But at a deeper level, something different is taking place: a young girl in her teens is being pushed from trust in her mother to trust in herself, and ultimately to trust in the whole messy process of life itself, with its incredible innate wisdom. This mama is hell to live with. On the one hand, she "sees no limits – that‘s the good part; but the bad part is that she acts on all her impulses without thinking them through." Still, the younger daughter in this family from Curacao comes to see that it’s because of this strange mother of hers that she now has a green card, “and that‘s extraordinary." When we stop asking why those close to us do the things that drive us up the wall and allow them to become our mirror, we begin to wise up. It's in facing up to ourselves in the reflection those we care about show us of ourselves that our real growth happens. As the youngest daughter in this story testifies, "I realized that it is in our relationships that we can see the love and hate that is within us reflected back to us." If you have ever wanted to believe that the circumstances of your life really do work for your ultimate best interest, read The House with Six Doors.”
David Robert Ord, author and Editorial Director at Namastepublishing.com, publishers of Eckhart Tolle and other inspirational authors and teachers.“Intimate, at times lyrical, charged with pain and wonder , laughter and perennial hope, The House of Six Doors is terrific storytelling”
- Olga Rojer, Associate Professor, American University, Washington DC.“An honest tale of love, acceptance and American Dreams”
- El Mundo“Patricia Selbert weaves a powerful and poignant tale of wisdom in the tapestry of her writings that provides a source of strength. My applause to the author for her brilliant and beautiful portrayal of a young girl’s coming of age and her struggles with cultural differences.”
- Reiki Master Julia Elizabeth Carroll, author of Nu Reiki Oneness“This is an honest and compelling coming-of-age story that follows a girl as she moves between two cultures, cradled between longing for her indigenous past and the glittering promise of her future in America. Selbert artfully shines light upon the honest transformation of an immigrant family, moving from memories of a windswept island and a grandmother's wisdom to the poignant integration and reality facing all American immigrants.”
- Carol Prunhuber, author of The Passion and Death of Rahman the Kurd: Dreaming Kurdistan“If you feel as though the circumstances of your life are against you and you wonder whether this will ever change, this is a story that will fill you with hope. If you have ever wanted to believe that the circumstances of your life really do work for your ultimate best interest, read The House with Six Doors.”
- David Robert Ord, author of Lessons in Loving: A Journey into the Heart“This story rings true from beginning to end. From the moment we meet thirteen-year-old Serena with her fierce and erratic mother in the Miami airport, we know a heroine’s journey has begun. Captured in vivid details and lyrical memories, it invites the reader along.”
- Janet Lucy, author of Moon Mother, Moon Daughter: Myths and Rituals that Celebrate a Girl’s Coming of Age“Patricia Selbert’s The House of Six Doors tells the story of Serena’s authentic transformation: from young island girl to woman, from small town to big city life, with a strong helping of self-realization. This is my kind of fiction!”
- Janice Cook Knight, author of Follow Your Heart Cookbook: Recipes from the Vegetarian Restaurant“This novel is a beautiful weave of hard reality and romance, so real that I couldn’t put it down.”
- Nancy Marriott, author of Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d with Dr. Candace Pert“You will find yourself torn between cheering for the mother and wanting to sit her down for an intervention. You will think about yourself and how you would deal with things if you were in that situation. You would wish to be enveloped by Serena’s grandmother’s arm and hear her wisdom. You’ll take that wisdom to heart for your own life. You will want to take Serena and hide her away from herself but then on the next page feel a sense of pride for her achievements.You will wish to live in Curacao but then thankful to live in your own town. You’ll find yourself wanting to read more of this book.”
- Steena Holmes, author of Chocolate Blessings“I absolutely fell in love with this beautifully written, lyrical novel. Selbert shares her gift of storytelling in this coming-of-age novel of Serena, the young girl who immigrated to the United States as her mother and sister followed their dreams, and found that she had dreams of her own that would encourage her and see her through her journey to find her own self.”
- Sharon Galligar, Sharon's Garden Review of Books