“The best part of the Hotel Nantucket was the staff. It may have taken me fifteen years to realize this, friends, but realize it I have: Hotels aren’t about rooms. They aren’t about amenities. They’re about people….” – Shelly Carpenter. The Hotel Nantucket is written by the international bestselling author, Elin Hilderbrand and is published by ‘Little, Brown and Company’. The genre of this book is fiction.
A billionaire from London, Mr. Xavier Darling, invests in an age-old hotel on an island, the “Hotel Nantucket,” which caught fire in 1992. The hotel is believed to be haunted by a spirit since then. He then turns this almost- ruined building into a splendid hotel with luxurious facilities that anyone would want to experience. He appoints Lizbet Keaton, as the general manager and asks her to choose the rest of the staff. Xavier tells Lizbet that they have to get the five-on-five rating from this famous travel blogger under the pen name of ‘Shelly Carpenter,’ and none of the hotels have ever got that rating. Hence, the entire staff works towards perfection, every single day, with the dire anticipation of Shelly’s arrival.
Grace Hadley, the hotels ghost, was a 19-year-old chambermaid who died in the fire and is stuck in the hotel as her death was not acknowledged. Not only does Grace have a story, all the other staff members too have their own complicated back stories. For instance, Lizbet has a bad romantic past, Chadwick the rich kids’ story is a tragedy, Eddie who is the front desk member faces financial trouble due to her father’s death. In short, the book has a bundle of short stories within the story. All these back stories add layers to the main plot, keeping all the readers entertained and engaged throughout the whole reading process.
It might appear to be a tad bit difficult to dive into the book in the start due to the absence of a single narrator, but it does get easier with every page. The author manages to tie up all the loose ends of the story into a well rounded up ending, answering every question that the reader might have had in their mind. The identity of Shelly Carpenter is revealed too, and personally I never could have guessed it right. All in all, the book is well written, simple to read, and my current favourite. It is the perfect book to read during this summer.
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