Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All (2019), a young adult historical fantasy by Laura Ruby, centers on a young girl and a teenage ghost dealing with separate losses during World War II. The book received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, and in 2019, it received a nomination for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Ruby writes books for teenagers and short stories for adults. She is best known for blending history, magical realism, and fantasy. When she is not writing, she is speaking at literature and teaching conventions across the United States.

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All takes place in 1940s Chicago, just before the end of WWII. Frankie, a teenage girl, lives in an orphanage with her sister, Toni, and her brother. Their mother died recently, and their father can’t handle the grief. He supposedly placed Frankie and her siblings in the orphanage as a temporary measure until he could get his head straight. Their father does not intend to take them back.

One day, Frankie’s father visits the orphanage with a new woman on his arm. Remarried, he can only take one child home with them. He takes Frankie’s brother, admitting that he probably won’t see the girls again. He is only taking their brother away because, one day, he will be the heir to the family fortune. Frankie’s father leaves the orphanage, not caring what happens to the girls.



With only Toni for company, Frankie feels that her life is over. Harsh nuns rule the orphanage with iron fists, not allowing the children to have any fun. Frankie wants to be an artist, but the nuns won’t give her pencils or canvases. They make the children feel that there is something wrong with them because parents only walk away from bad kids.

More than anything, Frankie wants to grow up and escape the orphanage. She wants the freedom to live her life without oppression. Toni, on the other hand, is resigned to living in the orphanage. She doesn’t expect anything better from life. All Toni wants is for their mother to come back from the grave. Despite the war raging all around them, their world feels very small and insular.

All the while, a ghost called Pearl watches over Frankie. Pearl died in 1918, and she is quite taken with Frankie’s spirit. She knows that Frankie wishes that someone cared enough about her to protect her, and she wants to be that person. Pearl desperately wants to have an impact on the physical world because her life was cut short. Frankie is her last shot at making a difference.



Frankie blends into life at the orphanage. She finally makes friends and life doesn’t seem so bleak anymore. Despite how the nuns treat her, she feels that freedom is a possibility one day, and she knows that she deserves to be happy. At the same time, she grows closer to Toni; together they feel they can take on the world.

Meanwhile, Pearl questions why she is still living in the orphanage. She knows that ghosts are supposed to move on eventually; she doesn’t know what’s holding her back from eternal quiet. She begins rifling through her own memories, remembering things from her past that trouble her.

Pearl recalls fancying a boy that her parents didn’t approve of. Although she had had sexual experiences with this boy, she didn’t have a choice but to let him go. She doesn’t know if he is alive or dead, and she doesn’t know if he would still care about her. Still, she knows that unrequited love isn’t enough to keep her rooted to the orphanage.



As the months go by, Frankie earns the right to some freedom, but she doesn’t know how to use it. Comfortable in the orphanage, she knows what to expect there. The outside world is a scary place. At least with the nuns, she feels safe. It feels that whenever Frankie opens the door, there are wolves waiting outside.

Frankie knows that the options available to her are limited, despite how big the world seems. She has three choices—get married, work in the orphanage once she is too old to stay there, or get pregnant and end up in an asylum for unmarried women. None of these options appeal to Frankie; Pearl can only wonder what road she will take.

Frankie finally realizes that she is safe at the orphanage, hidden from war, poverty, and the trauma of life on the streets. This safety is holding her back. She decides that the aftermath of the war represents an opportunity to reinvent society. If she is brave, she might carve out her own life away from social norms. She cannot spend her entire life afraid of wolves at the door. Pearl comes to a similar realization, finding peace in the end. The only person holding Pearl back from moving on was herself.