About

At Mr B's they are delighted to welcome bestselling author, Maggie Stiefvater, to Bath to chat to them about her epic debut adult novel, The Listeners.

The Listeners is an immersive, genre-bending historical tale of love, courage and wonder set during in a luxury hotel in the Appalachian Mountains, during World War Two. This is Maggie's most ambitious novel to date and we can't wait to hear more from Maggie herself on this special UK visit which just so happens to fall on Independent Bookshop Week!

Maggie Stiefvater is the Number One New York Times bestselling author of novels including The Raven Cycle, Scorpio Races and Shiver. She has sold nearly 6 million books worldwide. Her books have lived on our shelves with a special badge of honour at Mr B's since our Children's Lead, Hannah, joined the team.

About the book:

The Avallon Hotel offers unrivaled luxury in the wild Appalachian Mountains, its curative sweet water washing away the troubles of high society. June 'Hoss' Hudson, a local girl turned general manager, has known its power since she first stepped through the century-old doors – and into the fold of the Gilfoyle family, the hotel's aristocratic owners.

But in 1942, the real world intrudes. War comes to the Avallon dressed in fine furs and government suits. Under the State Department's watchful eye, the Gilfoyle heir welcomes three hundredenemy diplomats and Nazi sympathisers. And June must play host.

As dark alliances and unexpected desires crack the Avallon's polished veneer, not every guest is who they seem. Not least Agent Tucker Minnick, listening for secrets through the hotel walls, whose coal tattoo threatens to betray his past and undo June. And more troubling is the secretshe has guarded for years – that the mountain waters can harm as much as heal…

'Mesmeric, original, and stunning. Maggie Stiefvater is an exceptional talent, and THE LISTENERS is by turns a beautiful love story, a fascinating glimpse into the horrors of history and a haunting tale of loyalty and courage.' – CHRIS WHITAKER

'THE LISTENERS is a marvel: strange, witty, moving, exuberant, shadowed. It's built around two extraordinary characters: the Avallon hotel itself (surely the most charismatic hotel since Stephen King's The Overlook), and June Porter Hudson, the unforgettable general manager of the Avallon. From the first page, the prose and the plot pull you on. Every sentence is weighted and measured; levity and gravity turn and tumble in the tone; and the whole book somehow succeeds in being at once gloriously extravagant and perfectly poised. Honestly, I'd read a dishwasher manual written by Maggie Stiefvater – but I don't have to because here is this fizzingly brilliant novel.' – ROBERT MACFARLANE

'THE LISTENERS is cinematic and so very satisfying. This is a rich, multilayered ride of a novel not unlike the hotel at its heart – grand, patient, leaving no particulars unnoticed. A phenomenally immersive read.' – CLAIRE LOMBARDO