The Bird Hotel - by Joyce Maynard (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Enter the magical world of La Llorona with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard.

After a childhood filled with heartbreak, Irene, a talented artist, finds herself in a small Central American village where she checks into a beautiful but decaying lakefront hotel called La Llorona at the base of a volcano.

The Bird Hotel tells the story of this young American who, after suffering tragedy, restores and runs La Llorona. Along the way we meet a rich assortment of characters who live in the village or come to stay at the hotel. With a mystery at its center and filled with warmth, drama, romance, humor, pop culture, and a little magical realism, The Bird Hotel has all the hallmarks of a Joyce Maynard novel that have made her a leading voice of her generation.

The Bird Hotel is a big, sweeping story spanning four decades, offering lyricism as well as whimsy. While the world New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard brings to life on the page is rendered from her imagination, it's one informed by the more than twenty years of which she has spent a significant amount of her time in a small Mayan indigenous village in Guatemala.

As the New York Times said, "[Maynard] has an unswerving eye, a sharply perked ear, and the ability to keep her readers hanging on her words." People Magazine said of her: "Maynard's spare prose packs a rich emotional punch."

Review Quotes

"A sweeping saga of a novel spanning four decades and offering both lyricism and whimsey, The Bird Hotel is impressively informed by the more than twenty years of which author Joyce Maynard has spent in the small Mayan indigenous village in Guatemala. With her deftly scripted and narrative driven storytelling style, The Bird Hotel will be of special interest to readers that enjoy Hispanic/American and Magical Realism stories. . . . [H]ighly recommended for community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections."
--MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

"Joyce Maynard is brilliant at imagining, knowing, and delivering characters. Wow. I will not forget Irene. Maynard has moved inside her kind of loss, such an overwhelming amount of loss over so many years. I feel as if I have known this woman forever, as if I have sat over breakfast on the terrace, have watched the light over the lake, have organized and planned the astonishing project of rebuilding and running--and retaining--La Llorona. ... Maynard bathes us in daily detail--the roses on the table, the hundred steps, the red light in the trees, the fireflies, the orange souffle served in the orange rinds!! Maynard created a world readers hunger for. ... I loved this book."
--MEREDITH HALL, bestselling author of Without a Map and Beneficence

"A touching novel about a mother who loses her child, a child who loses her mother, and how they find their way back from loss at The Bird Hotel. It's a story about love and trust."
--LINDA RONSTADT, author of Feels Like Home

"In The Bird Hotel, Joyce Maynard imagines a glorious landscape where one broken woman, Irene, must lose herself in order to find the hope of survival. Although it's Irene whose heart-stopping tale drives the narrative, this is also a rich ensemble novel about endurance, courage, healing, and the salvation of human generosity--the glittering, unexpected ways we save each other every day, despite all the reasons not to. Much more than just an expat novel filled with memorable characters of all stripes, The Bird Hotel is a careful love letter of discovery, and a reminder that life can provide the antidote to suffering if you're open, patient, and you know where to look."
--JEANINE CUMMINS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of American Dirt

"The Bird Hotel is an engaging, smart, and warm-hearted novel that is hard to put down. The setting of the beautiful hotel with its flowers, birds, and fascinating cast of characters is irresistible; during the days I was reading it, all I wanted to do was be there. The excellent plot kept me guessing, and I loved the surprises and touching scenes along the way to a well-earned ending. I will return to this book again."
--ALICE ELLIOTT DARK, author of Fellowship Point

"The Bird Hotel is [Maynard's] best novel yet . . . Told in short, snappy chapters, The Bird Hotel is just delightful. It's filled with so many twists and turns that I could not see where the story was going to end."
--Maurice on Books

About the Author

Over her fifty-year career, New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard has published hundreds of essays as well as eighteen books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the memoir At Home in the World and the novels To Die For and Labor Day, both adapted for film. Her novel, Count the Ways, was recently awarded the Grand Prix Literaire in France. Every winter for over two decades, Maynard has led the Lake Atitlan Memoir workshop, Write by the Lake, in Guatemala.