Hotel Du Lac: A Novel (Man Booker Prize Winner) - Paperback

by Anita Brookner (Author)

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER - In the novel that established her international reputation, Anita Brookner finds a new way to frame the eternal question, "Why love?"

"Brookner's most absorbing novel ... wryly realistic ... graceful and attractive." --Anne Tyler, The New York Times Book Review

When middle-aged romance writer Edith Hope's life begins to resemble the melodramatic plots of her own novels, her friends banish her to Switzerland, where they hope the luxurious calm of the Hotel du Lac will restore her to her senses. But instead of contritely contemplating her mistakes, Edith spends her time keenly observing her eccentric fellow guests and writing unsent letters to the married lover she is supposed to be trying to forget. Before long, despite her determination to stay quietly on the sidelines, Edith attracts the attention of a worldly man who believes that they are uniquely situated to solve each other's problems.

Beautifully observed and witheringly funny, Hotel du Lac is Brookner at her most stylish and potently subversive.

Front Jacket

In the novel that won her the Booker Prize and established her international reputation, Anita Brookner finds a new vocabulary for framing the eternal question "Why love?" It tells the story of Edith Hope, who writes romance novels under a psudonym. When her life begins to resemble the plots of her own novels, however, Edith flees to Switzerland, where the quiet luxury of the Hotel du Lac promises to resore her to her senses.
But instead of peace and rest, Edith finds herself sequestered at the hotel with an assortment of love's casualties and exiles. She also attracts the attention of a worldly man determined to release her unused capacity for mischief and pleasure. Beautifully observed, witheringly funny, Hotel du Lac is Brookner at her most stylish and potently subversive.

Author Biography

ANITA BROOKNER was born in London and, apart from several years in Paris, was a lifelong Londoner. She trained as an art historian and taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art until 1988. She is the author of twenty-seven books, including the Booker Prize-winning novel Hotel Du Lac. She died in 2016.