Liminal Spaces: Thresholds, Crossings, And Places In Between

by A R Wells

Liminal Thresholds, Crossings, and Places In Between

A Literary Exploration of Architecture, Folklore, and the Psychology of In-Between Places

There are places where the world quietly rooms left waiting, stairwells thick with shadow, gardens overtaken by wildness, and forgotten doorways sealed by time. These are thresholds where certainty falters and possibility stirs; where we pause between departure and arrival, memory and forgetting, safety and the unknown.

Liminal Spaces explores the architecture of transition through five richly illustrated chapters examining attics and cloakrooms, ancient corpse roads and desire paths, watchtowers and unfinished bridges, abandoned platforms and forgotten tollbooths, and overgrown gardens reclaimed by nature. Drawing on folklore, cultural anthropology, and the psychology of place, each essay reveals how these in-between spaces shape human consciousness and carry the weight of memory, myth, and transformation.

From the haunted crossroads of European folklore to the eerie beauty of modern abandonment, this volume traces humanity's enduring fascination with thresholds, boundaries, and the uncanny power of places that refuse to be fully one thing or another.

Richly illustrated with Victorian-style engravings and set in classic typography, this is a book

Readers of psychogeography and literary essaysStudents of folklore, architecture, and cultural anthropologyAnyone drawn to the strange beauty of abandoned placesThose who sense that doorways, stairwells, and forgotten paths hold their own quiet magic
From the Library Mirabilis series - beautifully designed volumes for collectors, wanderers, and all who appreciate the mysterious corners of human imagination.

For those who pause in doorways, linger in corridors, and find wonder in the spaces between.

129 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2025

Reviews

[Edmond Thornfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liminal Spaces is a quietly arresting work—part psychogeography, part folklore study, part meditation on the strange poetics of places we rarely stop to notice. A.R. Wells writes with a steady lyrical hand, rendering attics, waiting rooms, corpse roads, and overgrown gardens not as mere settings but as thresholds where human consciousness wavers and deepens. Each essay moves with deliberate calm, lingering in the uneasy beauty of the in-between, and the prose has that rare quality of feeling both precise and dreamlike at once.

Visually, the book is equally atmospheric. Its Victorian-style illustrations evoke the grain and shadow of old engravings, amplifying the sense of subtle dislocation that permeates the text. The classic typography, generous spacing, and overall design feel crafted with collectors in mind. My only minor wish is that the artwork had been placed on the facing verso pages so that each illustration directly accompanied its corresponding essay—a small adjustment that would have heightened the book’s immersion.

Even so, this volume succeeds at what it sets out to do. It is a contemplative exploration of how thresholds shape the ways we move through the world. Readers of folklore, cultural anthropology, and literary nonfiction will find themselves lingering in its pages much as the book lingers in its chosen spaces: with patience, curiosity, and a sense of unspoken wonder.

[Christina Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has such beautiful illustrations. I found myself more interesting in the illustrations of the liminal spaces then the text. Don't get me wrong the text is almost poetic. As a new writer it gave me so many things to ponder when writing fantasy. "Stairs are honest things, till they aren't" may be my new favorite quote.