THE HOTEL BALZAAR

A mysterious hotel guest tells stories to a maid’s child.

It’s been a long time since the last letter arrived from Marta’s soldier father; without him, Marta and her mother have landed in the attic room of the Hotel Balzaar, where her mother works as a maid and Marta must be always unobtrusive. But when a flamboyant elderly countess with a parrot arrives, the new guest spots Marta right away and insists the child come to her room to hear stories. The stories enchant and frustrate Marta in equal turns, being both compelling and ending in places that leave her unsatisfied. But the stories also seem interconnected in ways that inspire Marta to examine them for deeper meaning. Pieces of the fablelike stories relate to Marta—especially to her father. Marta’s holding out in her belief that he will return to them one day, and she finds the more magical takes on reality offered by the countess’s stories reassuring in the face of her life’s ambiguities. Readers, too, will enjoy piecing together the connections among the stories and will be encouraged to seek deeper truths about people and the world around them. The vintage, baroque artwork features bold, confident lines that capture the timelessness of both Marta’s story and the countess’s tales. Characters present white.

A delightful, thoughtful escape to a magical world.