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It’s 2015 in London, and Eve Shaw gets a strange visitor at her office. An old man who says his name is Max Everly gives her a small octopus ornament. She feels a connection to the man, even though she’s never seen him before. And his name is the same as her favorite composer — but the composer was born 116 years earlier. What’s the connection? And why the gift?
Ever since she was only 4 years old, Eve has been haunted by a devastating event. She’s kept to herself and comforted herself just with her drawings of a white octopus with a single black-tipped tentacle. And with the music of Max Everly. When she learns the octopus may be connected to a mysterious hotel that closed decades earlier, Eve decides she has to find out more. She has nothing to lose, after all.
Tracing various clues, Eve finds herself a guest of the White Octopus Hotel, in 1935, just before it’s about to close forever. And there she meets the young Max Everly. While Eve carries scars from the tragedy of her childhood, Max is carrying scars from serving in the trenches of World War I. Both have an opportunity to find healing and love in this impossible time together at the hotel. But they’ll have to navigate the labyrinth of puzzles at the White Octopus — and deem themselves worthy of love, a much bigger challenge.
The White Octopus Hotel is just the style of book that strikes a chord with me: a time-travel story of magical realism where people get second chances at happiness. There’s mystery about how it’s happening, how it will be resolved, and why it’s happening. And there’s poignancy in the resolution and the reasons behind the whole thing. I did so enjoy how it all came together. I don’t think it was quite perfect, but it was quite good.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 3 uses of strong language, a couple of instances of moderate profanity, 6 or 7 uses of mild language, and a few instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes kissing and a closed-door scene. Violence includes some gory descriptions of injuries and deaths in war.
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