Illustrations – Júlia Sardà
Marta spends her days counting the stairs between the attic and the lobby of the Hotel Balzaar. She uses the back stairs, never the elevator. In the lobby, she is careful not to touch anything and is as quiet as a mouse.
She watches a cat and mouse engage in a never ending chase. She observes a wing and Norman, the positively ancient bellman, who sleeps with a smile. Marta does this while Mama cleans.
Every day is the same. Stairs. Cat. Mouse. Wing. Norman. Until it’s not.
Checking into Room 314 is a countess and Blitzkoff, her green parrot. The countess sees the girl who is not supposed to be seen.
“Come as soon as you can. I have a story to tell you. It is a story that you will find quite interesting, I’m sure.”
When the countess tells the first of seven promised stories, Marta thinks she has found a connection between it and her life, but surely that’s not possible. The stories aren’t real, after all.
Perhaps I am only imagining all this.
Over the past six years, Kate DiCamillo has become one of my favourite authors. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t wait to dive into my next read because, without fail, I leave the worlds she creates feeling better about this one.
Here Kate introduces us to a young girl waking up every day with uncertainty. She hasn’t heard from her father, who is at war, for over a year. Her mother has lost hope.
Kate brings characters into my life that I become invested in almost immediately. Her books have the nostalgic feel of a childhood favourite and don’t lose their magic during rereads.
The joy of learning Bastian was connected to The Neverending Story was replicated here when I saw elements from the beginning of this book come full circle as it progressed. An early illustration confirms that you are in the same world as The Puppets of Spelhorst and while the connections between the two aren’t specifically mentioned, I found some potential crossovers.
I would not have appreciated this book as much if I’d read it as a child. Adult me loved it. I’m sure there are connections I haven’t made yet between the series of stories which seem to have no end that the countess shares.
One of the themes of this book is keeping hope alive and my favourite quote spoke to this.
“It takes no courage at all to doubt, Marta,” she said. “And we are not beyond rescue. We are never beyond rescue.”
I can’t wait for the next Norendy Tale.
Thank you so much to Walker Books for the opportunity to read this novella.
Once Upon a Blurb
At the Hotel Balzaar, Marta’s mother rises before the sun, puts on her uniform, and instructs Marta to roam as she will but quietly, invisibly — like a little mouse. While her mother cleans rooms, Marta slips down the back staircase to the grand lobby to chat with the bellman, study the painting of an angel’s wing over the fireplace, and watch a cat chase a mouse around the face of the grandfather clock, all the while dreaming of the return of her soldier father, who has gone missing. One day, a mysterious countess with a parrot checks in, promising a story — in fact, seven stories in all, each to be told in its proper order. As the stories unfold, Marta begins to wonder: could the secret to her father’s disappearance lie in the countess’s tales? Book two in a trio of novellas bound by place and mood — with elegant line art by Júlia Sardà — The Hotel Balzaar masterfully juggles yearning and belief, shining light into every dark corner.
Schizanthus Nerd 