The Hotel Alleluia

Familial, racial and political issues as well as character are Roy's concern in this resonant second novel, after the well-received Lady Moses. A successful software designer in North Carolina, Joan Plum discovers a Web site promoting African art and serendipitously spots a painting signed by Ursuline Shebar--a name she recognizes as that of her half-black half-sister, whom their mother abandoned in Africa years ago. With the help of her ex-lover, Gordon Delacroix, an African-American and one-time Peace Corps member who lives in war-torn West Africa and investigates corporate industrial pollution, Joan tracks down her sister, now residing in a convent compound in an unnamed country. After a particularly bloody assault by government rebels on the village marketplace, the nuns urge a hesitant Ursuline to return with Joan to the States as a scholarship art student. But as the sisters are on their way to the airport, Joan is kidnapped by government thugs who are seeking to keep Gordon's investigation under wraps. After several botched attempts, Joan's release is finally negotiated, but Joan's and Ursuline's relationship hits snags in the U.S. when a traumatized Joan blames Ursuline for not rescuing her sooner, as well as for engaging Delacroix's romantic interest. Meanwhile, Ursuline is alienated by the excess of comforts and luxury Americans take for granted, and bravely decides to return to her village convent after hearing reports that it has been marauded by government troops. As in Lady Moses, Roy's heroines try to make homes for themselves where they feel at peace, whether it seems the logical place for them to be or not. The beautifully sustained intensity of the narrative and a multiculturally varied and delightfully authentic supporting cast keep the reader's attention from the first chapter to the last. Agent, Jean Naggar. 5-city author tour. (Jan.) FYI: Roy's 1995 poetry collection won the Eighth Mountain Poetry Prize.