Book Review: In ‘The Listeners,’ Maggie Stiefvater approaches WWII with a distinct voice

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This article was published 02/06/2025 (297 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Maggie Stiefvater has brought her magical prose with her to her first adult novel.

“The Listeners” takes place at a luxury hotel in West Virginia as World War II begins. In need of a place to store their foreign nationals — i.e. Axis diplomats and their families — the U.S. government takes over the Avallon Hotel, forcing its manager and her staff to scramble to balance hospitality and hedonism.

June Porter Hudson, the hotel’s general manager, is a self-assured woman, wholeheartedly devoted to the Avallon Hotel at the cost of her identity. Tucker Minnick is a tough but emotionally wounded FBI agent, responsible for diplomatically monitoring his hostages and any accomplices. When June and Tucker meet, their logistical tug-of-war serves as mutual annoyance, entertainment and self-discovery.

Humanizing and detail-oriented, “The Listeners” is a story about both people management and self-regulation. It’s a unique, domestic take on World War II that showcases the encroaching nature of war as men are drafted, families are torn apart and rations are enforced. At the same time, the novel shows how class divide fosters privilege – and ignorance – in the rich, especially during dark times.

When the reality of the conflict finally hits the hotel, both the reader and the narrators have no choice but to reckon with the gray area that exists during wartime: Enemies can be likable; friends can be unsavory.

In her afterword, Stiefvater revealed that “The Listeners” was inspired by real people, events and attitudes, which made the novel that much more impressive. It was well-researched and tactful, handling dark issues with sensitivity and embedding colorful detail onto each page.

The many threads opened at the beginning of the book in the form of letters, hotel room orders, oddly specific details and mismatched characters begged the question, “Will this come together?”

By the third half of the novel, the conflict was waiting to bubble over.

But character development came full circle, loose plot threads tied up and previous hints were unveiled as June and Tucker formed a quaint alliance, wrestling to protect the most vulnerable at the Avallon. The result of their efforts was unexpected yet undeniably satisfying.

Stiefvater is not afraid of using punctuation in unconventional ways. She demonstrates yet again that rebelling against conventional writing standards can allow creativity to flourish. The prose maintained a sense of magic and possibility, while maturing respectively from her previous young adult work like “The Raven Cycle” and “The Dreamer Trilogy.”

“The Listeners” could’ve been more grounded at times, the supernatural properties of the mountain sweetwater distracting from the novel’s historical fiction genre.

Altogether, “The Listeners” lived up to the literary finesse Stiefvater has established in her previous work, this unique take on World War II delivering a beautifully developed setting, riveting plot twists and vivid characters.

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