The Listeners

The beguiling adult debut by YA novelist Stiefvater (Shiver) imbues a little-known chapter of WWII history with a touch of the supernatural. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. State Department requisitioned several luxury hotels as housing for captured enemy diplomats. At the fictional Avallon in West Virginia (modeled after the Greenbrier), the rich and powerful relax and take advantage of the local mineral water acclaimed for its healing properties. General manager June Hudson, who has risen in the ranks in part because of her ability to communicate with the mercurial and possibly sentient “sweetwater,” is concerned by the arrival of FBI agent and fellow West Virginian Tucker Minnick, who’s suspicious of the hotel’s new guests. As tensions rise over the Avallon’s hosting of Nazis, June and Tucker both face crises of career and conscience, and the fate of the hotel and the springs on which it depends hangs in the balance. With a light touch, Stiefvater populates the story with a rich and varied cast of characters, including a mysterious woman who hasn’t left the hotel’s fourth floor for decades, and she seamlessly threads sparkling magic into her well-researched historical narrative. This accomplished work should earn Stiefvater plenty of new fans. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (June)