The Listeners is Stiefvater's adult debut, and I was intrigued by the premise: a luxury hotel in the Appalachian Mountains is forced to house foreign diplomats at the start of WWII. The Avallon is a special resort, with all sorts of interesting characters working there. At its heart is June Hudson, a local girl who has worked her way up to GM and who has a treasured place with the Gilfoyles, owners of the hotel. This is a character-driven novel, mostly about June, and while I enjoyed it, I always felt a distinct distance from June and the other characters. That can work in an action-driven novel, but it was a bit of a problem for me in a character-driven one. Still, there was enough of interest in the story to keep me engaged. Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Penguin for a digital review copy.

Writing has a lot of character, but feels a bit out of sync for me, so I struggled to feel connected while reading. The sweetwater mystical aspect is interesting and I really appreciated the growth June goes through by the end of the book. The ending felt like it wrapped things up nicely and I really enjoyed most of the hotel staff, especially Toad, god love her. The war details felt well written and at times left me with chills.

As Stiefvater herself said on the B&N podcast, this novel exists in the in-between, for the Avalon, for the country, for our characters. And there is also an exploration of the duality of all of these. Liminal spaces, and the transformations therein, are narratives interesting to me. But, even as a fan of Steifvater’s voice and tone, there are times I fear we drown in the metaphor here. This was most evident with the magic element of the novel—and something I was particularly glad to see as a fan of Stiefvater’s YA fiction—with the sweetwater. And I liked the malleable nature of the sweetwater’s magic. Though at times I think the double-edge sword of this is that it made it start to feel a little heavy handed in the reference.

It’s a slow novel, propelled by character and theme, and so even with the high stakes, it’s the smaller internal moments that propel us as readers forward. And yet some of the big reveals don’t feel grounded in much of anything narratively. June and Tucker are compelling characters, but the prose keeps us somewhat distanced from them.

At the same time, that prose that keeps us slightly distanced turns us as readers into the voyeurs, the listeners, in some ways. Which also cushions us from some of the harsher nuances of the historical explorations. There are big ideas being explored here, through subtle moments. And that’s how most of us live our lives, as the small subtle moments in the shadow of the big idea.

I loved this historical fiction. It was interesting to think about what being in that hotel was like. History you discover through fiction is my favorite! I wasn't sure about the magical realism aspects of the book, but then I am often not a fan of magical realism.

I was hesitant about this, but Maggie has done it again. I always say that her writing feels like coming home and this is no different. She makes you fall in love with June, the sweet water, the hotel, and even the dachshunds that have been left behind. Maggie is the queen of magical realism.

I was hooked from the beginning!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

If you’re looking for a World War II book that’s different from the others, THE LISTENERS is a good choice. Just make sure you’re ok with an extremely slow burn that’s very character driven, with little by way of plot.

The writing is beautiful, and Stiefvater captures the vibe of a ritzy hotel in the 1940s. It’s narrated by June, who was raised in Appalachia and has risen to be the general manager of the Avallon. As WWII is heating up, June and the other employees of the hotel are told that the guests must leave, to make room for the detained families of Nazis and other political persons of interest.

I did enjoy the touch of magical realism, which revolves around the Avallon’s mystical sweetwater. Overall, however, this was a difficult book for me to follow and enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher Viking for the opportunity to read an early digital ARC of THE LISTENERS in exchange for my honest feedback.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
3⭐️
The Listeners is a slow paced historical fiction novel set in 1940s America, offering a fresh perspective on WWII away from the battlefield. With a touch of magical realism, it follows June, a competent and compelling hotel manager, as she navigates the political tensions of the era when her hotel is commandeered for foreign diplomats. Maggie Stiefvater crafts a vivid setting and a strong cast of supporting characters, including the mysterious FBI agent Tucker Minnow.

While the pacing may be too leisurely for some, it was for me, readers who enjoy atmospheric, character-driven stories with historical depth and light speculative elements will appreciate this one. Ideal for fans of literary fiction and non-traditional WWII narratives.

The Avallon Hotel and Spa in the remote hills of West Virginia is distinguished not only by its luxury, but by the mineral “sweetwater” flowing through its hot pools and piping. The waters absorb and give back the emotions and experiences of those who bathe in them, which is part of their healing power. General manager June Hudson gained her position not only through her managerial prowess, but her rare ability to commune with the sweetwater and correct its course if it starts to turn sour. At the start of 1942, the US government seizes the operation to house Axis diplomats and their families while negotiating with their respective governments for the exchange of American hostages. Amidst the tense atmosphere and life-shattering arithmetic of war, the waters are troubled, and June is faced with difficult decisions about who and what is worth supporting, healing, or saving—including the hotel itself.

The Listeners hooked me from the beginning with Maggie Stiefvater’s excellent facility for creating atmosphere and winning characters. Stiefvater states (on Goodreads) that “I wanted to write controlled, intense, strange, sensual, truthful novel set firmly in a genre I'm increasingly thinking of as Wonder (what is the opposite of Horror? or at least, what do you call it when the speculative aspects are more likely to provoke awe than terror?).” I love the idea of “Wonder” as the corollary genre to Horror, and I think she dips her toe into the waters of that potential genre in this book… but could perhaps have developed this concept further.

Steifvater did some extensive research on the historical aspects, and while the Avallon and its occupants are fictional, the scenario itself happened at several hotels around the country. I enjoyed the wide cast of characters and the issues, both personal and political, that they wrestle with. I think some readers might find themselves adrift in this novel due to their narrative expectations (historical thriller? Not really. Spooky hotel intrigue? Not really. Tense political drama? Somewhat, but not at its heart). Despite lacking that kind of powerful genre punch, I really appreciate everything Stiefvater did meditate on in this novel: the meaning of luxury and who is deserving of it, what we put of ourselves into our work (and whether this sacrifice is worth it), the way our humanity yearns for and yet has the potential to destroy wondrous things, the power of listening and observing and understanding. It’s just a very Steifvater-y kind of novel, while still being quite different from what she’s written before. I’m intrigued about what she’ll tackle next.

Completed review posted below, and on good reads.
Run date is effective immediately.

Maggie Steifvater, and her series The Wolves of Mercy Falls, hold a special place within me. Early on in my book review career, she sent me the original trilogy. Since then, I have been hooked on her writing. When I heard the news she was doing an adult historical fiction I was eager with anticipation.

The Listeners is a unique story involving a luxurious hotel ran by a young woman named June Hudson amidst the time of World War II. June is the General Manager of the hotel Avallon (yes, double L). The hotel is eventually overrun with Japanese, Italian, and German parties. But do not let the War fool you; the story flows from each of its newfound residents and the complex and beautiful stories of these characters , and how they are all intertwined amongst each other over the period of their stay at hotel Avallon.

The way in which Stiefvater chose to write is a way in which she makes its reader feel as if they ARE June Hudson. Yet, as the story evolves the reader questions just how did this poor orphan girl from the hills of West Virginia end up in the role of GM at this elaborate and sometimes mysterious hotel? Further, Maggie’s writing is descriptive in the depiction of its scenes that June’s and the hotel become symbiotic. The hotel takes on a life form of its own.

When the reader finally reaches Part Four, there is immense anxiety forming. What will happen to the varied foreign residents who are at war with one another outside the hotel, and at a lower-level, inside the hotel far from their homes. The power of the sweetwater can be used to help or harm, and that decision fully comes from the lead female character Ms. June Hudson.

The Listeners features a myriad of themes: war, and the stories of various intriguing war constituents, survival and resilience, unrequited love vs unexpected love, strong female leadership, child abandonment (or the deepest love a mother can give). Frankly, if there were more time in this review, the reader could come up with even more themes.

Steifvater’s The Listeners is filled with amazing quotes to live by. Personally, I don’t believe I have ever been mistaken for appreciative of snails. The ways in which normally these slimy and gross beings of nature are portrayed as some type of celestial beings grows a respect for their place in Avallon, and also in reality, too.

In closing, the renewed love and hunger for historical knowledge that The Listeners creates (see the room service requests at the beginning of the chapters), paired with fascinating historical data the author spent over 5 years collecting to create such an exceptional story for the people is welcoming, appreciative, and much-needed in our current times of world wars that seem to never cease.

A special thank you to the talented Maggie Stiefvater for penning this new novel, and to NetGalley for providing me a copy to review.

Editing concerns:
Chapter 5, pg 49, line 12 needs a period after the “bats” in the parentheses.

Chapter 5, pg 55, line 4 lowercase “w” in “would”.

Chapter 7, pg 81, bottom of page, four lines up, lowercase “Outsider”.

Chapter 7, pg 85, second paragraph, line three needs a period.
***(Edits not included in posted review)***

Thank you to Penguin/Viking, NetGalley, and Ms. Stiefvater for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

As a longtime fan of Ms. Stiefvater I am familiar with her lyrical, almost poetic writing style, her beautiful turns of phrase, her ability to craft resonant characters, and her ability to imbue her prose with magic. I was very hopeful that her adult debut would be something similar to her YA books, but I will admit to being intrigued by the historical fiction genre tag and the description (by the author) of an atmosphere of "wonder".

The setup for the book was amazing. We're first introduced to June, who is general manager of a West Virginia luxury hotel in 1942, but who is (unusually) a native West Virginian who has risen to the position through hard work, dedication, and an affinity with the mystical, magical, (sentient? near sentient?) groundwater of the area, called sweetwater. June's hotel has been overtaken by G-Men and she has been informed that all her guests must leave and, in their stead, she and her team must house and serve foreign nationals belonging to the Axis side of World War II: Germans, Italians, Japanese. These events take place shortly post-Pearl Harbor and the hotel staff is (mostly) deeply unhappy about serving 'enemies.' We're also introduced to Hannelore Wolfe, a young German girl, the daughter of a German diplomat, who is Autism-coded and who, while she does not speak, is constantly observing.

Ms. Stiefvater does an absolutely wonderful job setting up this book. The characters feel so real, with their quirks and idiosyncrasies and unique voices and personalities. The hotel provides a vibrant backdrop for the indomitable June and her devoted staff. The plot is all set up for a dynamic climax, with a hotel full of people distrusting each other, the semi-sentient water "turning", and a wartime setting. Unfortunately... nothing much really happens. June tries to keep the water sweet and the guests complacent, if not happy, and the government agents satisfied, and her staff and hotel running smoothly. Mostly, June succeeds. And... that's it. Then the foreign nationals are expatriated, the end. Did I miss something? The staff, whose husbands and sons and fiancees and friends were fighting abroad, just carry on. The foreign nationals grumble and on the last night they deface the walls and then, they just leave.

It was a *beautiful* book, don't get me wrong. I did like it. It's just that I thought there would be a capital-P Plot, and there... wasn't, not much, not the way I expected, at least. Not the sort of plot I had expected from the amazing, detailed setup and characterization that Ms. Stiefvater set forward in the first chapters. As I said, a beautiful book, and certainly one that I enjoyed reading very much, but it could have used more STORY to it. If that makes sense. 3.5 stars

As a teenager in the aughts, I was fully obsessed with Maggie Stiefvater. When I heard she was making her adult debut, I expected more of the same, which was, of course, a very exciting prospect. I'm so glad that she delivered something so different from all of our expectations though, because surely our childhood hopes couldn't hold up.

Maggie Stiefvater has made the brave choice to write something very different than most of her readers would expect from her. I really enjoyed it!

June manages a swanky hotel at the beginning of WWII. When they unexpected find themselves thrown in the midst of important political goings-on, it's almost more than the staff can bear. Full of quiet consideration and interesting world building, Stiefvater keeps you guessing until the very end, with an urgent plot in the last quarter of the book. This is a bit of a slow start but I really enjoyed the way everything was carefully built up and I loved the quiet touch of magic.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc! 3/5 stars, highly atmospheric and extremely slow

listen, I actually love maggie stiefvater's writing. it's crazy atmospheric and moody, and she has such a talent for setting the scene in unconventional ways - the metaphors she uses, her little one liners, how she's able to draw comparisons between things you never would've thought were similar. I loved it in the raven cycle and I love it here - I know some people griped about the cover but I feel like it's a perfect representation of how stiefvater sets the scene in the avallon, both the hotel overall and in the specific setting of ww2. her character work is also so interesting - the names! - and her characters are so singular and quirky and have so much life to them, in their little sayings and mannerisms. but she started to lose me about halfway through, when I realized that the plot was actually barely progressing past where it had in the beginning of the book. stiefvater is usually pretty good at keeping up intrigue - she feeds you little bits about characters and unknown magics in inches, so that just as you start to wonder what's going to happen next, you get another inch to keep going. but here, it's like she's giving you millimeters - the pacing dragged, so much so that I wondered if we were ever going to learn what exactly was going on. even when you do learn more, stiefvater has a habit of making her explanations more vibe based than anything, and so at a certain point, you kinda just accept that you don't understand what's going on. overall, if you're in it for the vibes and the mysterious magical realism of it all, this is it for you.

Maggie Stiefvater was one of my favorite authors as a teen, so it's really exciting to now be able to read an adult novel from her. Loved it.

A beautifully atmospheric, gorgeously haunting, emotional and clever character-driven historical fiction novel with a touch of magic shimmering at the edges. It’s hard not to get swept away by the striking poetic quality of Stiefvater’s writing. And her ability to create worlds within secondary characters and settings, to make you care about the story so quickly, is unparalleled.

Maggie Stiefvater is an auto-read author for me; if not for that, I may never have picked up The Listeners, because I usually avoid any and all World War II-centric novels with a ten foot pole. I am so glad the time period did not deter me because this was a (I’m assuming) side of the war not often unearthed, where American hotels are forced to host Axis parties (i.e. Nazis included) and treat them with all the respect and dignity a guest deserves – though of course that they do not want to grant. And June, our and their fearless leader, is the perfect narrator to guide the task. The longer the hotel’s unwanted guests stay, the more the well-oiled machine begins to fray at the edges and we get to witness our characters crack wide open. It’s an awesome disaster.

I don’t know what else to say other than that you need to pick up this book.

4.5 stars. I am awestruck at this book.

Obviously any book centered around WWII is going to be complicated and intense. I enjoyed that this story focuses on the war at home, and June is such an incredible character with emotional depth. At one point she says she wasn’t happy but complacent and MAN I felt that in my soul a bit.

I of course adored Tucker and his arc as well. This book does a great job of balancing personal stories amidst a complicated backdrop. I felt invested in everyone’s outcome. Except for the literal Nazis. Obviously.

Thank you to NetGalley, Maggie Stiefvater, and Viking Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine eavesdropping on a ghost who's also a poet with a Tumblr account. That's The Listeners in a nutshell. Maggie Stiefvater's prose is as dreamy and mysterious as ever—she could describe a haunted parking meter and make it sound like Shakespeare. But somewhere between all the beautiful metaphors and existential musings, I lost the plot... literally. The vibes? Immaculate. The pacing? Like being stuck in a foggy elevator with your most introspective thoughts. I think I liked it. I know I was confused. This one’s for readers who enjoy mood over momentum, lyrical sadness, and whispering “what the heck just happened?” after every chapter.

June Hudson grew up impoverished in an Appalachian holler before working her way up to become the general manager of the Avallon Hotel & Spa. At the Avallon, she caters to eccentric guests accustomed to luxury and learns to listen to needs and desires that go unexpressed. Then, in January of 1942, she’s given orders to clear out the guests to make room for Axis diplomats who’ve been secretly invited to engage in negotiations by the U.S. State Department–and in this way, the war arrives on June’s doorstep. With a richly realized setting, a bit of romance, and a hint of magic, Stiefvater alchemizes painstaking research into a beautiful and riveting novel. This is a must-read for fans of Even As We Breath by Annette Clapsaddle and books that take place in cloistered settings.

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater is an ok story but overall doesn’t have much staying power and fails to last past finishing the book.

It’s 1942 and June Porter Hudson is the general manager of the Avallon Hotel in West Virginia, but everything changes when the family who owns the hotel makes a deal with the state department. Now, the hotel takes in captured Axis diplomats and suspected spies while the various countries negotiate for their safe return.

Tasked with keeping the hotel running while tensions rise, she must convince her staff to serve enemies of war. As FBI Agent Tucker Minnick listens for secrets, June faces a dangerous choice that could put everything at risk. Meanwhile, the literal undercurrent of the hotel, the sweetwater, is a magical stream that feeds off the emotions of those who interact with it. June needs to figure out how to keep the sweetwater balanced as well as her guests.

Trigger Warnings
War

Why Kirsten loves it
The subtle magical realism of the sweetwater helps to heighten the tension of the already elevated stakes of the story. Read the author’s note where it’s clear the incredible amount of research Stiefvater did for this story and the wonderful way she incorporated real historical events into the novel.

The dynamics of the hotel guests, the love triangle, the sweetwater, and the incredible characters all combined to create a narrative unlike any other.