A Stolen Treasure Unfolds in Harvard's Shadowy Book Stacks

A new novel, The Library of Fates, weaves mystery around Harvard’s hidden book stacks and a vanished treasure. The story begins when the formidable librarian Odile Vernet dies in the depths of Pusey Library. Her protégé, Eleanor, soon realises the priceless Book of Dark Nights has disappeared—sparking a desperate search.

The author’s own experiences at Harvard shaped the novel’s eerie setting. As an undergraduate, they worked part-time in Widener Library, digitising records and labelling books. The job led them into Pusey Library, a subterranean maze reached through a tunnel from Widener. Inside, towering mobile shelves hold millions of forgotten volumes, controlled by a button press.

Warnings against climbing the stacks are posted everywhere. In 1995, a *Harvard Crimson* report detailed a professor’s arm being crushed by the shifting shelves. Yet the novel’s characters dare to explore them, chasing clues from Widener’s ten levels to the Latin Quarter of Paris. Their hunt even descends into the cellar of the Luxembourg Museum. The fictional magic library atop Boylston Hall adds another layer to the mystery. But the real heart of the story lies beneath Harvard’s campus, where books—and secrets—are buried deep.

The novel blends Harvard’s real history with a tale of lost knowledge and danger. Pusey’s mobile stacks, once a workplace hazard, become the stage for a deadly quest. As Eleanor follows the trail of the stolen book, the line between myth and reality blurs.