If what gripped you in The Door by the Staircase was Mary discovering that Madame Zolotaya is more complicated than a child‑eating legend, you’ll love following Marinka as she learns the true work behind a house that walks and a Yaga who guides the dead. Like Mary’s mix of fear and curiosity as she peeks past that forbidden door and pieces together Baba Yaga’s past, Marinka’s story lets you live inside the myth and see the heart behind the legend.

You rooted for Mary as an orphan who finds a precarious home with Madame Zolotaya and forges a true bond with Jacob. In The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Luna is accidentally enmagicked as a baby and is raised by Xan (a not‑so‑wicked witch), the wise swamp monster Glerk, and a tiny, boastful dragon. If Mary’s makeshift family warmed you—despite the danger—Luna’s loving, odd household and its hard‑won loyalties will feel like coming home.

If you enjoyed Mary and Jacob poking around Madame Zolotaya’s place—decoding clues, sneaking past warnings, and unmasking who’s really who—Greenglass House offers that same cozy, candlelit mystery vibe. Milo and Meddy investigate odd guests, stolen maps, and ghostly hints in a rambling old inn, piecing things together with the same curiosity and nerve Mary shows when she unravels the truth about her new guardian.

Part of the charm of The Door by the Staircase is how Mary’s early‑20th‑century world hides real enchantment in back rooms and locked cupboards. Splendors and Glooms likewise threads sinister magic through Victorian streets: a cruel puppeteer, a cursed gemstone, and children caught in a net of spells. If you liked how Mary’s ordinary town concealed Baba Yaga’s power, this tale’s gaslit alleys and secret hexes will hit the same sweet spot.

Madame Zolotaya’s appetite and the peril behind her kindness give Mary’s story a delicious shiver. The Night Gardener leans into that danger: two orphaned siblings enter a manor bound to a monstrous tree that trades wishes for something vital in return. If Baba Yaga’s looming menace and Mary’s narrow escapes kept you turning pages, this atmospheric gothic fable will scratch that same edge‑of‑the‑lanternlight dread.