Nestled into the mountains of West Virginia is the Avallon Hotel and Spa. Only the richest visit the hotel and take the waters. The staff, under general manager June Hudson, attend to their every need and wish. It’s the kind of place where guests never need to ask for anything because the staff already knows their preferences. June could never have anticipated that, in January of 1942, the hotel would be called to serve the American government by hosting diplomats from Japan, Germany, and Italy1 while repatriation is worked out between the belligerent nations. The Listeners recounts what happened after the State Department called, with an extra supernatural twist from Maggie Stiefvater.
Irritated is not the word for June when she is informed that all of the paying guests have to leave the Avallon to make way for hundreds of officials from Japan, Germany, and Italy, plus their families. Furious would be more accurate, though she’s too much of a professional to show how angry she is when her schedule is interrupted. She’s also too much of a professional to refuse the job. June hurries into action, marshalling the staff to ease out the current guests and prepare for the incoming ones. Adding to her stress, FBI agent Tucker Minnick is in the middle of things, inserting himself and two other agents into the proceedings to prevent acts of espionage or risks to national security. I love how Stiefvater incorporates real history into this novel.
The Listeners moves back and forth between June and Tucker as they play out a small-scale battle of wills: June wants to run things according to usual, while Tucker is loath to risk his job to grant exceptions to security regulations. Another narrator, the daughter of a German diplomat, adds a wrenching emotional complication to the novel by embodying the mixed feelings some of the guests might have felt about being sent back “home.” Hannelore is a bright, observant girl who does not speak. She also screams when overwhelmed. The word autism doesn’t appear in the novel, but readers will probably pick up on the clues. Hannelore’s mother is terrified at the possibility of returning to Germany because she knows what might happen to people like Hannelore.
I found this novel very moving. Not only was I intrigued by Hannelore’s subplot, I was fascinated by the way that June’s inner turmoil developed over the course of the novel. June is far from averse to hard work, even in the demanding world of luxury hospitality. Her guests are grateful for her efforts and her staff’s work. Her employees love her; she cares about them as much as she does about the comfort of the guests. What galls June is the way she is taken for granted by her boss, the owner of the Avallon. Edgar Guilfoyle never realizes how much work it takes to serve with a smile, to deal with even the most unreasonable guests’ requests, to make magic happen day after day. He assumes so much about what June will do for him and the Avallon that I wanted to step in a kick him in the shins on June’s behalf.
So much happens in this novel that I wanted to start The Listeners over from the beginning and watch it all play out again. I have a bad habit of racing through stories that really hook me, so that I can find out what happens to everyone. This book is so layered and the supernatural elements so unique that it deserves an encore reading from me.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
- This actually did happen at West Virginia’s Greenbrier Hotel, the primary inspiration for this novel. ↩︎