6
NOVEMBER 9�17, 2021
FROM THE SHELF
CHECKING OUT THE
WORLD OF BOOKS
‘A Small Hotel’ by Suanne Laqueur
By Renee Struthers
For Go! Magazine
W
hat are the foundations
of what makes us who we
are? Suanne Laqueur explores
the importance of family, love
and honor in her latest book “A
Small Hotel,” a story of the Fisk-
are family during World War II.
Ensconced in the tourist
town of Clayton, New York,
along the St. Lawrence River,
the Fiskare family has run a ho-
tel catering to the tourist crowd
since 1895. As Swedish immi-
grants, the family has plied the
river, fi rst as fi shermen and then
as river guides and hospitality.
As World War II threatens to en-
velop the world, a visit from the
housekeeper’s distant cousin
changes everything for eldest
son Kennet. Her stay challenges
everything he knew about love
and honor — and loss.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor
draws the three eldest Fisk-
are boys into the war, where a
diff erent kind of love blooms:
camaraderie and brotherhood
quite unlike the one he grew
up with. The choices Kennet
makes, fi rst on the battlefi eld
and then in an Austrian concen-
tration camp, shake his being
to the core. With his former self
buried in the Belgian country-
side, Kennet returns to fi nd his
family much changed.
A second chance at love, and
honor, and family waits for him.
Can Kennet Fiskare rise to the
challenge? Do our experiences
change the very structure of
ourselves, or is the core im-
mutable? Does love in its many
forms trump all?
Laqueur’s romance fi ction
(or “therapy fi ction,” as some of
her fans call it) twines together
personal stories with well-
researched historical vignettes
to create a world you can’t help
but get caught up in. Her char-
acters step out of the pages to
challenge the reader’s precon-
ceptions of key themes without
relying on cliched romance
novel tropes — a story with
depth and breadth as well as
emotion and scope.
Suanne Laqueur is the author
of prize-winning novels “An
Exaltation of Larks,” part one
of the Venery series, and “Give
Me Your Answer True,” the fi rst
book of The Fish Tales series,
in addition to her current novel
and a book of short stories.
They can be found on her web-
site, http://suannelaqueurwrites.
com.
Cover courtesy/Cathedral Rock Press
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