War comes knocking at the doors of an Appalachian luxury hotel built on a mystical mountain spring in this assured, propulsive adult debut from powerhouse YA author Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle)
The morning of January 25, 1942, starts out like any other for June Hudson, mountaineer and general manager of the Avallon, a West Virginia luxury hotel. On the agenda is a ball--a demonstration that life at the hotel will remain unchanged despite the entrance of the U.S. into World War II. The Avallon attracts a privileged class with the money to buy themselves time surrounded by beauty, five-star service, and the allegedly curative "sweetwater" from the springs that feed the hotel's taps and bathhouses. Then the Feds arrive.
Special Agent Tucker Minnick of the FBI informs June that her guests must leave to make way for 300 foreign nationals--high-profile citizens of Axis nations living in the U.S. The group includes diplomats and celebrities, and their family members, all in need of protection and possibly containment. Tucker’s task is tough enough, but he didn't count on finding the Avallon's manager so compelling. June has her hands full convincing her staff to wait on Axis dignitaries, but her attraction to Tucker and her concern for the young daughter of a Nazi official will change everything she thought she knew about her future at the Avallon.
Stiefvater's unerringly distinct voice gives an almost supernatural glamor to the beauty of the West Virginia wilderness. A touch of magical realism ought to satisfy fans of Stiefvater's fantasy novels, and this mature, layered drama should appeal to historical fiction readers as well. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads