“A novel of heroic lives and deaths as a poor tropical nation descends into civil war, The Colonial Hotel blends the personal and political in a haunting indictment of human misery. It is also a very moving story of love and hope amid the ruins, with echoes of Graham Greene and J.M. Coetzee.” and — Ronald Wright, author of A Short History of Progress and A Scientific Romance

“Jonathan Bennett has written an absolutely riveting novel about the brutal and beautiful extremes of being human.” — Camilla Gibb, author of author of Sweetness in the Belly and The Beauty of Humanity Movement

"Bennett's writing is elegiac, but not ornate. There's a sense of deep melancholy in this book, along with the terror, horror, violence, and disillusionment you see in all war stories." — Annie Smith on Summer Reading Project