The Colonial Hotel cover art

The Colonial Hotel

A Novel

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The Colonial Hotel

By: Jonathan Bennett
Narrated by: M. John Kennedy
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About this listen

A lyrical, heartbreaking story of ardor and devastation.

In this powerful novel of love and family, a doctor named Paris follows a nurse to a country on the brink of civil war. When a confrontation does break out, they are swept up by rebel forces and separated. The nurse, Helen, is pregnant; she escapes, but Paris is left behind, imprisoned by rebels as war rages.

A narrative of brutal power about parental bonds, forgiveness, and identity, The Colonial Hotel recasts for the 21st century the ancient story of Paris, Helen, and Oenone. While the action might be ripped from international headlines, Bennett creates a wholly new take on an age-old tale set in the bleakest aspect of our unstable, yet remarkable, world.

©2018 Jonathan Bennett (P)2019 Bespeak Audio Editions
Fiction Literary Fiction Political War & Military Espionage War Military

Critic Reviews

"Jonathan Bennett has cleverly and sensitively described the many types of love tested by war. The result is a rewarding and intensely moving read: deceptively gruelling, given its slim dimensions, but also - like its heroine - devastatingly beautiful." (National Post)

"Bennett has presented a compelling, lyrical novel of love, suffering and reconciliation." (Winnipeg Free Press)

"This short novel is at once lyrical and brutal, alluring in its spare, elegant prose and shocking in its honest portrayal of the realities of political corruption and duplicitous leadership. Bennett is able to demonstrate the timelessness of the themes of the original classic story in this contemporary setting, offering both emotional depth and universal truths about the human condition." (Waterloo Region Record)

"These characters and their journey are utterly compelling." (Ardor)

"A solid novel on morality in our not-quite-postcolonial world." (Globe and Mail)

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.