The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025--San Antonio

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater has been named a top book of 2025 by several sources. It is a story that pulls the reader into it with interest and excitement--an historical novel with a touch of magical realism. It takes place at a resort hotel in the mountains of West Virginia during the first few months of WWII. The government has taken over the hotel to house diplomats and other non-citizens of the US who are from the countries of the Axis powers. Used to serving the richest of the rich, the hotel management and staff are charged with providing the same kind of service to these guests as has provided for elite guests. They do this in hopes that the Axis countries will be matching the services for the US diplomats and foreigners who were caught unexpectedly in those countries when the war began. Swiss diplomats are working with all the countries to create a plan for exchanging them all. Along with the foreigners, there are members of the Coast Guard, State Department, FBI Swiss diplomats to guard, debrief, negotiate, and manage the situation at the hotel during the approximate 6 months it took before the next stage of repatriation could occur. Although set in a fictional hotel with fictional characters, the events are based on true ones that happened at the various hotels where the US actually held Axis diplomats and citizens during this historical period in time and the hotel, its operation, and the reactions/expectations of its staff are also based on those from the hotels that were actually used for this purpose then. The magical realism aspect relates to the "powers" of the mineral waters that are piped through the hotel to bathrooms, the kitchen, to drinking spouts on each floor, and to the grand fountain inside the front entrance--the water's constant effort to take control of the hotel and the efforts used by the general manager of the hotel to temporarily mollify them on a regular basis. There's a love story. There's a famous guest who disappeared from public decades ago and has never left the room she occupies in the hotel since. There are the conflicts within the hierarchy of the country groups which have leaders who are not used to their "underlings" being treated the same as themselves, there are relationships that develop over time, there is a German family with a child they are afraid will be at a minimum sterilized, but more likely killed, by the German government once they leave the US because she still does not talk at the age of 5 years and also throws occasional tantrums. There's a lot in this book and it is all fascinating. I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.