Hotel du Lac (1984), a novel by British writer Anita Brookner, follows Edith Hope, a romance writer who has been banished from London in social disgrace, as she passes an enforced vacation in a Swiss hotel. She forms an uneasy friendship with the glamorous Mrs. Pusey and her daughter Jennifer, and later receives a marriage proposal from Mr. Neville, a wealthy businessman. The novel opens as Edith arrives at the titular hotel, a conservative, family-run establishment overlooking Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Edith is “a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name.” We learn early on that her stay at the hotel is not entirely Edith’s own choice. She has fallen into some kind of social disgrace that has caused her friends to send her away; she is on “probation” until she can “grow up” and “be a woman.” It’s clear that Edith’s disgrace has something to do with her personal life; fleeing an unsuccessful marriage, she spends much of her time at the hotel writing letters to David Simmonds, a married man with whom she is passionately in love. Resenting her banishment, Edith swears not to change. At first, Edith spends her time observing the other guests and describing them for David’s amusement. There is Madame de Bonneuil, who lives at the hotel permanently; she has been expelled from her castle by her son and his wife. Edith strikes up a friendship with Monica, who has been sent to the hotel by her husband; he has ordered her to recover from her “eating disorder” so that she can have children, but she is making little effort to comply with his wishes. Edith notices a quiet, attractive businessman named Mr. Neville, but she doesn’t get to know him. The guests who really capture Edith’s imagination are the Puseys: Iris and her daughter Jennifer. They are wealthy, beautiful, voluptuous, and frivolous; they have come to the hotel only in order to shop in the nearby boutiques. The owner of the hotel fawns over them, and they wear elaborate outfits dripping with jewels. Both women flirt with all the men and boast to all the women. Mrs. Pusey takes Edith under her wing (which in practice means subjecting her to boastful speeches). She also criticizes her clothes. Edith’s reaction is typically ambivalent. At first, she reflects wryly, “She had failed to scale the heights of consumerism that were apparently as open to her as they were to anyone else.” Later she goes shopping for new clothes, only to find that she can’t seem to locate the glamorous shops which the Puseys patronize. Edith finds herself a little in awe of Mrs. Pusey’s iron-clad confidence, and jealous of her close relationship with her daughter. Edith has never had children, and she has never really had a devoted intimate relationship with anyone. Jennifer Pusey has little interest in befriending Edith—who is about her age—because she is so devoted to her mother. Alongside Edith’s observations of the guests, we gradually learn about the events that have brought her to the Hotel du Lac. Her affair with David had been dragging on for many years when her close friend Penelope Milne introduced her to an eligible bachelor, the nice-but-dull businessman Geoffrey Long. Geoffrey proposed and Edith accepted, despite knowing that her feelings for him were not romantic or even particularly strong. On her wedding day, she put on her dress and got into the chauffeured car, but on the way to the Registry Office she asked the driver to circle the park for a bit. At the appointed hour, she told the driver to proceed to the office, but at the last minute changed her mind and asked him to drive on. The assembled guests watched her drive by. Her friends were horrified, and Geoffrey refused even to hear her explanation. Shortly afterward, she was packed off to Switzerland. Edith makes the acquaintance of Mr. Neville, the handsome and wealthy business-owner, and they begin to take outings together. Shortly before he is due to leave the hotel, he takes Edith on a boating expedition, where he proposes to her. His proposal is an unorthodox one: he does not love Edith nor expect her to love him. Rather, he needs someone reliable to run his home and play hostess. In return, he offers social respectability, money, and the time and space for Edith to write. She will be entitled to take lovers if she wishes. Edith asks for time to think. That same evening, she decides to accept. She writes a final letter to David, explaining what has happened and that she will not be seeing him again. This letter reveals to the reader that she has not sent any of her previous letters to David. She wakes early to post the letter, and as she leaves her room, she sees Mr. Neville leaving Jennifer Pusey’s room in a dressing gown. She is not surprised that they are having an affair. Edith returns to her room, tears up the letter, and instead composes a one-word telegram: “Returning.” Kirkus Reviews hailed Hotel du Lac as a “sad little comedy”; the novel was awarded the 1984 Booker Prize

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Anita Brookner

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