MUPFL Evening Book Club
Media Library · Media, PA
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles. Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile. Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal. June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury. You can find all our selections here: https://mediauplibrary.org/afternoon-book-club/ Please email [email protected] to join the book club.
Attendees gather on the library's second floor or join via Zoom for a one-hour guided discussion of "The Listeners," Maggie Stiefvater's novel about a hotel manager navigating wartime tensions when captured Axis diplomats are secretly housed at her Appalachian luxury spa. Expect a thoughtful, community-oriented conversation among local readers, with the group welcoming new members who email ahead to participate. The atmosphere is relaxed and conversational, typical of a small-town library book club where participants share impressions and debate the novel's themes of loyalty, luxury, and moral compromise.
