Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel: A Novel

Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan is a poignant novel of healing and love. Tilda’s relationship with her mother Grace is not a close one so she puts off going through her belongings after her death. When finally ready to face her tangled past, Tilda returns to the Brighton where she discovers Grace’s diaries. Tilda never forgave her mother for inexplicably sending her to boarding school when she was child. From than point forward, their relationship remained distant but will Tilda view her mother in a more favorable light after learning some startling information? In the present, Tilda is a bit of a recluse who relies on her rituals to protect herself from anything bad happening. A bit defiant of Grace’s choices, she makes herself at home in her mother’s flat. After beginning to read her mum’s diaries, Tilda is rather bewildered by the woman revealed within the pages. Tilda is surprised when Grace’s friend and neighbor Penelope Dane’s provides startling insight in her mum’s feelings for her. In between reading the diaries, Tilda revisits places she enjoyed a child and she is delighted by the new friends she is making. Joseph O’Shea is a bit eccentric but he is observant and offers astute advice. Tilda is charmed by cafe owner Daniel and when her feelings run deeper for him run deeper than friendship, will she take a chance on love? In the past, young Tillie is mourning the loss of her beloved father, Stevie, after he leaves the family. Grace deals with single motherhood in unhealthy ways that often leave Tillie fending for herself. Tillie’s childhood perspective is funny as she misinterprets words and their meanings and a little sad as she waits for Stevie to return. She also tiptoes around her melancholy and sometimes volatile mother. Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel is an engrossing novel with a bit of a mystical storyline and quirky but appealing characters. Tilda is an engaging character with intriguing abilities and endearing idiosyncrasies. With a few unanticipated twists and turns, Ruth Hogan brings this bewitching story to a bittersweet yet satisfying conclusion. I received a complimentary copy for review.

The second book I’ve read (although the third from this author), I’ve got her second novel on the shelf for when I need something utterly different yet familiar, heartfelt yet challenging to read. This is the story of Tilly (or Tilda), and told in two perspectives: the child of Tilly and the now adult Tilda – and how she reconciles her grief and the secrets she has come to learn about her parents, while searching for answers of how she and her mother came to such difficult times. Taking the perspective of Tilly – a fairly happy, quirky and occasionally odd child who sees ghosts and is followed by the specter of Eli, a dog that has ‘adopted’ her. Truly a ‘Daddy’s Girl” her every moment is spent reminiscing and waiting for her father’s return – where they would share secret moments before the storm that was her mother would erupt. As Tilda, she is now dealing with the death of her mother and all the questions that have been lingering for years – questions that will now go unanswered, as the only person to ask is gone. But there is a box of diaries, diaries that will help Tilda to ‘re-remember’ the past and perhaps see her questions answered from the information within the diary. Still accompanied by Eli, but now with a few new people in her circle, most importantly Daniel the café owner and her crush, Tilda is socially awkward, prone to asking unusual questions, and undecided about finding answers or remembering her life as it was. There is so much to unpack in this story, but it all unfolds gently as Tilda and Tilly reveal their life – from childhood to the present: reconnecting with old friends, finding support from her ‘visits’ with the dead, and discovering the real reason that she and her mother ended up staying with Queenie, as well as why her mother sent her away to boarding school. Tilda is simply searching for some closure and a way to deal with her questions, and this is what brings her so prominently into readers’ hearts – everyone wants those opportunities for answers and peace. Now I have to decide these few days later, about a story that I’m still piecing my reactions together – for it was wholly unexpected and unfolded in ways that brought the magic forward, and captured my attention. It’s not a perfect story, there is an abundance of metaphors and several that feel cliched, but a cliché is simply a moment captured in words that EVERYone can relate to – and this story has more of these moments, even with the incorporeal, than one has a right to expect. Touching on mental health, compulsion, alcoholism, grief, isolation and even the desire to connect despite the fear – it’s a story that takes time to settle down and reveal its magic even as you find moments popping up days later. I think for the unique qualities, the development and reveal of Tilly/Tilda, and the growth of the history of her story as it fills in from both ends (childhood and present) the story allows an entrée into a life that transports us from magical moments to more mundane, but is always informing and allowing us to find answers just as Tilda does – mixing the reality with the ‘fantastical’ and coming out the other end with a new favorite. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.