….in which I *finally* get #hoteldulac #anitabrookner #20BOS26 Book 9

Amongst the various unfinished reading projects I have going on, one is an informal read-through of the novels of Anita Brookner in publication order. I’ve absolutely loved her first three books, but approaching the fourth one I became a little nervous. “Hotel du Lac” was the title which catapulted her to fame when she won the Booker Prize for it in 1984, and I’ve read it twice: at the time of the win, and more recently in a revisit in 2013. On both occasions I felt somewhat underwhelmed and I don’t know why, but having loved her other novels I was concerned I would be disappointed again. Reader, I needn’t have worried…! “Hotel” tells the story of Edith Hope; a single, successful romantic novelist, she has committed some (initially unspecified) social indiscretion which has led to her being packed off to the titular hotel, on the shores of Lake Geneva, until the fuss dies down. As the narrative soon reveals, she’s been having an intermittent affair with a married man, David, and it’s…