Hotel 21
The 'funny, poignant and completely heart-warming' debut novel
Published on 27. April 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-5266-6252-1 (ISBN)
Description
'Beautifully told, this is a heart-warming and thought-provoking read.' Heat
'A sharp, funny, poignant and completely heart-warming story about female friendship and kick-ass women. I truly loved it!' Ruth Hogan
'I have a first-day rule. Any sign of trouble, even a whiff of a problem, and I walk.'
Noelle is an efficient and friendly hotel cleaner, a model employee. Or so she'd have you think. The trouble is that she can't help taking little 'souvenirs' as she cleans. Nothing of value, just tokens of happy, normal lives: a lipstick, a hair clip, some tweezers. And by the time the guest has noticed, she's long gone.
As she starts at her 21st hotel, she's determined to beat her record of one month in a five star hotel before suspicion falls on her. But when she meets her new colleagues, her plans are complicated. These women aren't just hands pushing carts down lonely hotel corridors: they are women with lives full of happiness and worry, pain and joy. The kind of lives Noelle has never known how to live. They make her wonder what it might be like to have real friends, people to stick around for...
Will the women at Hotel 21 give her the courage to claim the life she deserves, or will her old habits come back to haunt her?
'Wonderful!' Daily Mail
'A sharp, funny, poignant and completely heart-warming story about female friendship and kick-ass women. I truly loved it!' Ruth Hogan
'I have a first-day rule. Any sign of trouble, even a whiff of a problem, and I walk.'
Noelle is an efficient and friendly hotel cleaner, a model employee. Or so she'd have you think. The trouble is that she can't help taking little 'souvenirs' as she cleans. Nothing of value, just tokens of happy, normal lives: a lipstick, a hair clip, some tweezers. And by the time the guest has noticed, she's long gone.
As she starts at her 21st hotel, she's determined to beat her record of one month in a five star hotel before suspicion falls on her. But when she meets her new colleagues, her plans are complicated. These women aren't just hands pushing carts down lonely hotel corridors: they are women with lives full of happiness and worry, pain and joy. The kind of lives Noelle has never known how to live. They make her wonder what it might be like to have real friends, people to stick around for...
Will the women at Hotel 21 give her the courage to claim the life she deserves, or will her old habits come back to haunt her?
'Wonderful!' Daily Mail
Reviews / Votes
Wonderful! * Daily Mail * Beautifully told, this is a heart-warming and thought-provoking read. * Heat * Hotel 21 has a catchy title, a great premise and solid plot momentum from start to finish * Irish Times * A sharp, funny, poignant and completely heart-warming story about female friendship and kick-ass women. I truly loved it! * Ruth Hogan * Noelle is my new hero, she quietly, but firmly stole my heart. * Ericka Waller, author of Dog Days * A fresh, funny and touching read about friendship, survival and the power of human connection. Beautifully drawn and wonderfully satisfying. I loved it. * Holly Miller, author of What Might Have Been * Hotel 21 is the kind of poignant, thought-provoking page-turner you can fly through in a day * Culturefly * A dark and joyous character-driven book * Woman's Weekly * A seasoned screenwriter, [Rich] knows how to keep a reader's attention to the last. She is adept at creating that most elusive yet gratifying of literary characters: the badly behaved woman whom everyone will root for. As offbeat character studies go, this is as good as it gets. * Irish Independent * 'Noelle is full of candour and complexity - it's impossible not to like her. Senta Rich also offers a fascinating insight into the world of hotels, including the camaraderie of the mostly cleaning staff.' * The Weekend Australian *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-5266-6252-1 (9781526662521)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
SENTA RICH began her career as an advertising copywriter. During this time, she also wrote radio plays and magazine articles, before moving into the world of screenwriting. She now writes regularly for film and TV. She lives in Dublin with her husband and son. Hotel 21 is her debut novel.