Book Details The Listeners
January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.
Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.
Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.
June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.See Less
Category: Historical Fiction | Women’s Fiction
Book Review The Listeners
“A novel that will remind readers of why they fell in love with reading in the first place.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
I just received my @waterstones edition of Stiefvater’s debut adult novel and this one is an unstoppable force filled with mesmerizing lines and characters you will keep safe and rent free in your long term memory. Stiefvater’s writing is one that captivates, transporting readers to the 1940’s to a grand hotel of decadence, luxury and wealth, and the people who make it all possible. And the hotel is commandeered (although the owner is in on it) in a political game no one can escape as the United States enters the Second World War.
Not to be missed, this book is a gem of 2025. It’s not a WWII historical fiction that focuses on the bloodbath of the front, and it’s not an espionage thriller, it’s a story about unimaginable choices in everyday life, from changing bedsheets for Nazis, listening to conversations without being noticed, to relishing the wild and beautiful landscape outside of the Avallon on rationed gasoline. Readers will be drawn in by the magical realism, the enchanting heroine June Porter Hudson, to the hotel itself. Get ready to be swept away by the vivid ferocity of a time and place shrouded in darkness, with the hope that light will be on the horizon.
Thank you to @vikingbooks and @penguinrandomhouse for the advance readers copy for a review. I absolutely LOVED this book.
Grab your copy today.
Happy Reading ~ Cece
RATING: 
– Exceptionally Inked
About the Author
Maggie Stiefvater is the New York Times bestselling author of the Shiver trilogy, the Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races, among dozens of other YA fantasy novels. Her books have sold over five million copies around the world. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband and their two children.
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publication details
| Pub Date | ISBN | Page Count | Publisher | Age Group | Source & Format | Review Posted Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Jun-25 | 978-0593655504 | 400 | Viking | Adult | NetGalley, Digital ARC | June 16, 2025 |
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I’m Cecelia and I’m so glad you’re here! You’ll find honest reviews, book recommendations, along with other bookish essentials. So happy you stopped by!
– C
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ABOUT THE CREATOR
CECE BECKMAN
Cece holds a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach. She lives in California with her husband and children. When she’s not reading or writing reviews she can be found wandering book aisles at local bookshops, drinking iced cold lattes with cold cream foam, or passing the time with her cats.
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