Tuesday, December 31, 2024

The LONELY HEARTS HOTEL

Heather O'Neill. THE LONELY HEARTS HOTEL. HarperCollins, 2017.

I am so glad I found this novel at a thrift store. And it has a lovely French-fold cover and wonderful "hand", the way it feels like leather/velvet to the touch.

This is a love story between two exceptional children, Pierrot and Rose, who meet in the orphanage. They are both imaginative and creative and love to perform. Set in Depression-era Montreal with a season in New York, the protagonists experience abandonment, abuse, poverty, addiction, prostitution, pornography, and criminal associates. 

I loved O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals. This novel has the feeling of an earlier work, less revised or edited, with the same exceptional figures of speech which, as the protagonists age, seem to better fit the character's experiences. A most enjoyable read. 



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DANIEL MARTIN

 John Fowles. DANIEL MARTIN. Collins, 1977. Re-read this old novel for about the 3rd or 4th time and wrote about it on my Substack newslette...